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MYTHS &P LEGENDS
OF THE BANTU

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MYTHS IS LEGENDS OF
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MYTHS tf LEGENDS OF THE
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MYTHS & LEGENDS
OF THE BANTU

ALICE WERNE R

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EiiriA Aar t. ilm The *vnmgrd xrd tAt ur/WHjrr AttA Air iff ait,

OtskiAzyt, sUtfir m In&mJAte* RAadu «f Notify httgAt,
r mr.V Qib*rn xlt.ht m tAf dtar NauJidn uH,

Ai ffavrn f Jjtd KvAat dmmt art lAfsrt in lAt hath of tht hlndij

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Nrtvr, ri/tfr timt btgatt f At: drtf torn: bark JV ttiL . , a
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PREFACE

T HERE is at the present day a widespread and grow¬
ing interest in the customs, institutions, and, folklore
of more or less ' primitive * peoples, even among
persons who are still a little shy of the word anthropo¬
logy.’ This interest is of comparatively recent growth; hut
when one looks back over the nineteenth century it seems
almost incredible that Moffat could write, in 184-, that a
description of the manners and customs of the Bechuinas
would be neither very instructive nor very edifying.
Twenty years earlier James Campbell, whom one suspects
of u secret and shamefaced interest in the subject,, apologizes
For presenting to the notice of his readers the J4 absurd and
^ ridiculous fictions if of the same tribe.

The apology is certainly not needed to-day-—'witness me
collections of folk tales pouring in from every quarter of
what used to be called the Dark Continent, contributed by
grave divineSp respectable i Government ofRcials, and all sort*
and conditions of observers. In fact, bo much new matter
has appeared since I first took the present work in hand
time it has proved impossible to keep puce with it, bur
I have endeavoured to present to the notice of the reader
fairly typical specimens of myth and legend from as many
as possible of the various Bantu-speaking tribes, confident
that the result will not be {if I may again quote Campbehj
to “exhibit the puerile and degraded state ot intellect
among the said tribes.

I have been obliged, however, to my great regre > o
omit some very striking legends of the Baganda, .ess known
than that of Kintu (familiar from several other works and,
moreover, told at length in my own African MjO»h£f).
But it would have been easy, given sufficient time, to expand
this book to twice the covenanted length*

A word as to the pronunciation of African names, .No
attempt has been made to render them phonetically,
beyond the rough-and-ready rule that vowels are to be pro¬
nounced as in German or Italian, consonants as in English,

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

every syllable as ending in a vowel, and every vowel to be
pronounced. Thus it has not been considered necessary
to put an acute accent over the e in Shire (which, by the
by, ought to be Chiri ) and Pare. Where ng is followed by
an apostrophe, as in 4 Ryang’ombe 9 (but not in 4 Kalunga-
ngombe , ) > it is sounded as in ‘sing,’ not as in ‘finger/
African experts may discover some inconsistency in the
rendering of tribal names. One ought, I suppose, either
to use the vernacular plural in every case, as in Basuto,
Amandebele, Anyanja, or to discard the prefix and add an
English plural, as in Zulus (too familiar a form to be
dropped); but it did not seem possible to attain consistency
throughout. At any rate, one has avoided the barbarism
of ‘Basutos,’ though sanctioned by no less an authority
than Sir Godfrey Lagden. Moffat, as will have been
noticed, was guilty of 4 Bechuanas,’ and I have not ventured
to correct his text.

It may not be superfluous to point out that the person-
class in the Bantu languages has, in the singular, the prefix
mu- (sometimes umu- or omu -, and sometimes shortened
into m -) and, in the plural, ba- (aba-, va- y ova-, a -). The
prefix ama- or ma-, sometimes found with tribal names,
belongs to a different class. It is probably a plural of
multitude (or 4 collective plural ’), which has displaced the
ordinary form.

The titles of works cited in the footnotes have been
abbreviated in most instances. The full titles of such
works, together with other details, will be found in the
Bibliography.

It is a pleasant task to convey my sincere thanks to those
who have kindly permitted me to make use of their
published work: the Revs. E. W. Smith and T. Cullen
Young; Mr Frederick Johnson (Dar-es-Salaam), for his
Makonde and Iramba tales, published in a form not readily
accessible to the general reader; Captain R. S. Rattray, who is
better known nowadays in connexion with the Gold Coast,
but once upon a time did very good work in Nyasaland;
Dr C. M. Doke(University of the Witwatersrand); M. Henri

PREFACE

A. Jtmod; the Rev. Father Schmid, editor of Anihropn^
for permission to use P, Arnoux’s articles on Ruanda;
Promisor Meinhof, for matter appearing in his Zritschrift
/Sr Eingtborenensprachcn (Hamburg)* and his contributor,
the Rev, C. Hoffmann (another contributor, the Rev. M.
Klamroth, is* unfortunately, no longer living); the Rev. J.
Raum (and Dr Mittwoch, editor of the series in which his
Chaga Grammar appeared), for the story of Murile; the
Rev. Dr Gutmann, for some delightful Chaga tales; the
Rev. D. R. Mackenzie and the late Rev, Donald Fraser*
fur some very interesting quotations from their respective
works- If any others have been inadvertently omitted
I can only crave their indulgence.

CONTENTS

OurflK r*n*

I. INTRODUCTORY l 5

II, Where Mrs CAME from, and how Death came 28

III. Legends or thr High Gods 4°

IV. The Heaven Country ant> the Heaven People 50

V. Mortals who have ascended to H haven Ob

VI. The Ghosts and the Ghost Country 81

VIL The Avenger or Blood 99

VIII, Heroes and Demi-ood$

IX. Tub Wash-INDt Saca 130

X. The Story of Liosgo Fhmo i+5

XI, The Tricksters Hlakanyana anp Huvrane 155
XI 1 . The Amazimu r 7 a

XIII. Or We re-wolves, Half-men, Gnomes, Goblins,

and other Monsters *9^

XIV. The SwALLowiNtf Monster 2 °0

XV. Lightning, Thunder, Rain, and the Rainbow 222

XVI. Doctors, Prophets, and Witches 2 35

XVII, Brer Rabbit in Africa 2 5 2

XVIII, Legends of the Tortoise *73

XIX. Stories of some other Amimu *t*

XX. Some Stories which have travelled 3°7

BlEUOUltAFHY 3 2 3

Index 3 2 7

ILLUSTRATIONS

FAG*

HLAKANYANa's shield Frontispiect

BUSHMAN PAINTINGS 1 6

A SCENE IN NATAL 14

FILLING A BASKET WITH CRAIN iB

A Zulu woman an utium with ftrain (awtihrjVv " Nnrir corn 1

—a Lind of millet). The fray in whirh hex hair ii divticd ihowi
Iktf to be a

A MAN OF TH E BAKWENA 4^>

The MakweJU tribe is one of the Sulo-Oauaci.L growm sufflcwbal to
the Wes! of lb t Eapcdi. A fairly typical specimen of $uulh Afrian
Bantu.

VEND* GIRL PUTTING MAIZE-CG&S INTO T HB GJUIN-

STORE 6si

T be roof ii tilted up for ttic [iifrpw^ The bisktt u of »mc#hn
different ihjpc from that used by the Barongti | It « tnarc like the
Zulu form.

ZULU DIVINERS IN CONSULTATION 6W

T" I nr * hi IT m 1 (nut vuuhLe in the photograph) have been thrown un
r I ip i loth >jire;L[| m the i'im man on [he ri^hl Jnd the woman

rji i ihe Jrft am pomtlng £u their position. (They have olavioudy
hern povd fur rhr pinum.) Nuie the bonii in the womin'i hair.

They ilk an nnporUnt pari of tluc diviner's and witch-doctor's
Outfit,

A SWAZI MOTHER AND BABY 9<>

A ZULU WOMAN DIVINER lo 4

NyengebuJei wife was in tzaioia^ tor ihrs frtfeistiiB.

IMANDWA INITIATION CEREMONY ll 6

MOUNT SABINYO |J ^

The mountain it one of the Viruntf* volcances.

TH1 GRAVE OF A LAMBA Cl U EF AND 5 K VLU± OF RELATIVES 13<?
(i) Tile humsoftlir eatlEe daUghtered. at the funeral Or^ am planted
un eKmt ^rave, but they do mt come out ckarly in she pbufograpk
The ceremonial drum (whichp with the VVakiUndh would I*' kejU in
anendoted shrine) is seen hung up Eg the tree* surrounding the jpi¥f T
(i) The tribes of the Taita hiJJs (uurfh-*aat of Mombaii)#. the Wnchdga,
the Waiu of Fare, and probably place the tkulb of their

deceased relati ves (xemorcd from the p«Rf k*Ih tlw flab baa decayed)
in A charnel--house* or F as hfiftf, ft cave or ruck-shelter.

I Z

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

rjwa

A ZULU DOCTOR AND PATIENT 134

Scarifying and cupping are practice much In favour with African
doctors ■ The Zulu in i he illustration il bci rt g iy bjccfed to the former
tfe^incaE ; cuEa are made In [he ikin f and medicine! rubbed into the m+

CHARMS USED IN THE LAM BA COUNTRY FOR PREVENT! NO

THEFT FROM GARDENS i+l

Thra? used by Mhnza (Inherited fi*m her grandfather Mbcgi) for
protecting the Iwil wunld not have be : :i very different from thCK.

.SOME OF THE BOYS WHO OBJECTED TO HLARANYANA ? 5
COMPANY

HUT-BUlt-DlHO IN NATAL 166

7'hew imrii hit tying ilir ^attLs j/tj rt-J nE the prtmli of ifltfiT-
Kcriom Wberi thii b f ribbed llw eN iching b done by the women,

In the manner described in the teat* UStuJEy wiib a Large u-maden needle

ligrtma),

RRS PA RATIONS FOR A ZULU WEDDING '9 U

MurriiigP ctisltiim fijlTrr cmtl i dr rably among the variuUB tribefi. In
ihb pktttlc the Zulu hrntr (thr Central figure of the left-hand croup)
ti having her hair worked into the fcluirai Btruflure which b En mark
her itaiui u ■ married woman.

FOUNDING MAIZE I 9 S

Thb photograph ihawi rhe grain-mortar used by the Baila women.

(el Kymknd it is half its high n^iin, And not* n a rule, wo much OriU*
rne 11 ted.. The eilu rC ,lc and fx v itle arc ilei JrtiJbpc tumble Item of hdUK-
h..!:i and usually stand near the hut>dod±.

" Jl£ BUILT HIMSELF A FINE KRAAL ” 2 oB

The upper pifru re shows the kind of hut built by the Basuto r T lie
kawtt shows the Zulu type. The men in rhe foreground ate planting
the first wait Ira for I he arches (tiimingc) of a new erection.

A SWAHILI AND A 5HEHRI 2 l'i

(i) A SwiMli (at Jomvu, near Mombasa) wearing the typical ^hite
cap (fort j) and long shirt (f dfrea}. (a) A young Sbebri ipin nitsg y^rn
for a fiihing-net. Many of these people (from f hehr, in South
Arabia) are n-Scled on tlir Svatuli coaal as aiiiali Lrideri and handt-
cnifcimm,

INYAXGA YEZULU WARDING OFF A HAILSTORM 228

THE RAINBOW LIVES IN AN ANT-HlLLJ 232

SPI AIT-HUT OF THE WAMO^A

bit Lamha dance ra reputed In be poSSroed by the spin ta
of departed chiefs. The dancing gear— ratdci for anklei, grrua *krrts s
etc.—a kept beneath thb ihtdtcr* where thieve* would not dare to
touch tr.

ILLUSTRATIONS

FLAYING THE KAFIR PIANO

Thil U tbc mitrutndni known hi South Affin m a 1 Kafir piano ™
of Elnr Rifanga F eIJCwbm mbiid, ntora„ or Those

hi the lUujtraiion belong to the Wfida tribe* in J™th Tfini«aL
CKtmfaiakt'i mbkv wt>tild Imre been of the imilkr
bribed In the footnote to pigc 241.

-swazi writ; h-doctor

The min ii carrying the ' ml' The ■mill ihkld pAttfl » thc Stind
u^J at dancci or on ceremonial occnHflv

PA SHIHE JVWBANI

TV wmb of iv Modem nut it Memhiu, where pe«pl* “>

Tiarsti and work qielb.

TWO ZULUS ENGAGED IN WRESTLING

The WKnliotf' notch between the hare and the Eo^-nihfl =s oot CM V Jo
TiEuaJitt_but nut? 3 at the foot of pjgft 15? ihoutef V Vjrni in mirvcL

A ROCK AT LSIDUMBINIj NATAL

It might have teen 1 he one which the hire tailed on tVhon toiupport.

“the tortoise had a smoke .

This 111 nu>n l> mot Idle while- wi/ofing hii pif* i the «l#btt*h ir i ha
n>ht hind W full of cjpitn, which he is churning into hotter Ifj njlhng
it backward nnd furwird sgaim< hi’ thigh.

A ZULU MLAYIWG UPON THE UMQANGALA

A mDA WEARING CHARMS
A Luba---

A POK.OMO FISHERMAN

The mar. it weurift* the mfa unfr .heU which show. Hut he bel^l 10
the highest orilrr of ddtn.

THE ‘TEMPLE,’ ZIMBABWE

This ruin tm been the whjret of much hmted

RCCWcired by, Jt any rate. »»“■ competent judR* that it ntay tow
h&cn built by the Bantu— probably by the Ma angi-

MAP SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES IN SOUTHERN

AND EQUATORIAL AFRICA

24D

*44

250

2 bo

270

28a

184

28B

302

320

322

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTORY

Who are the Bantu ?

B ANTU is now Ehc generally accepted name for those
natives of South Africa (the great majority) who are
neither Hottentots nor Bushmen—that k to say,
mainly, the Zulus, Xosas (Kafirs), Basuto, and Bechuana
—-to whom may be added the 'Thongas (Shangaans) of the
Ddagoa Bay region and the people oi Southern Rhodesia,
commonly, though incorrectly, called Mashona,

J&irtfu is the Zulu word for 'people* (in Sesuto frath^
and in Hereto ovaudu) which was adopted by Bleck, at the
suggestion of Sir George Grey, as the name for the great
family of languages now known to cover practically the
whole southern hall of Africa, It had already been ascer^
tained, by more than one scholar, that there was a remark¬
able resemblance between the speech of these South African
peoples and that of the Congo natives on the one hand and
of the Mozambique natives on the other. Si was left for
Bleek—who spent the last twenty years of his life at the

Cape-_to study these languages from a scientific point of

view and systematize what was already known about them*
His Comparative Grammar of South African Languages*
though left unfinished when he died, in i ft 75, is the founda¬
tion of all later work done in this subject*

The Bantu languages possess a remarkable degree of
uniformity. They may differ considerably in vocabulary,
and to a certain extent in pronunciation, but their gram¬
matical structure k, in its main outlines, everywhere the
same. But to speak of a ‘ Bantu race is misleading* 1 he
Bantu-speaking peoples vary greatly in physical type * some
of them hardly differ from some of the Sudanic -speaking 1
Negroes of West Africa (who, again, are by no means all
of one pattern), w hile others show a type which has been

1 Mo*i of these UcLpua^Cf. which had lonff iccm-ed to be a hopeks* chacn T h*\r
been found to belong eo one family, called by Fro lessor Wwlerai^in tbe 6»uit.
Typical mem hem of thi* family ait T»i (spoken in the Gold C*s« Latony),

£WC P And VuJriallJ.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

accounted for by a probable ‘ H ami tic’ invasion from the
north.

But on questions connected with ' race ’ and, racial
characteristics ethnologists themselves arc by no means
agreed, and in any case we need not discuss them in this
book.

The Bantu-speaking peoples, then, include such widely
separated triht:* as the Dull la, adjoining the Gulf of
Cameroon*, in the north-west; the Pokomo of the Tana
valley, in the north-east; the Zulus in the south-east; and
the Hereros in the south-west, Snmc are tall and strongly
built, like the Zulus; some as tall or taller, but more
slender, chough equally well formed, like the Hasuto-—or
even over-tall and coo thin for their height, tike the Hereros ;
others short and sturdy, like the Pokomo canoe-men, or
small, active, and wiry, like some of the Anyanja. They
vary greatly in colour, from a very dark brown (none, 1
think, are quite black) to different shades of bronze or
copper. Colour may not be uniform within the same
tribe: the Zulus themselves, for instance, distinguish
between ' black * — that is, dark brown—and ' red ■—or
lighter brown — Zulus. 1

It does not seem likely, then, that all these various tribes
ever formed parts of one family, as their languages may be
said to do. But It may be assumed that a considerable
body, speaking the same language, set out (perhaps two or
three thousand years ago) from somewhere in the region of
the Great Lukes toward* the south and east. Whether
they came into Africa across the Isthmus of Suez, bringing
their language with them, or—as seems more likely —
developed it in that continent need not concern us here.
As they moved on, separating in different directions (as our
Teutonic ancestors did when they moved into Europe),
their several languages grew up.

1 The 1 Rrrf Kafirs,’ however* vo often heard m South Africa dues

E»t frfrr U> illJti colour, but to the cwtom of p mxndl lg the bqttj with irtl whnt
or st me ifmilar RtiiiEnJ—■ antom not without hyjiemo jtutiI«lion> nosier ihr
giwrn randitigni,

Bushman Paintings

In a rock-shelter near Salisbury, South Rhodesia.
Photo Strachan and Co., Salisbury

♦

•*

INTRODUCTORY

The Bushmen

They did not find an empty continent awaiting them.
The only previous inhabitants of whom we have any certain
knowledge are the Bushmen, the Pygmies of the Congo
forests (and some scattered remnants of similar tribes in
other parts), and perhaps the Hottentots. 1 The present-
day Bushmen, most of whom are to be found in the Kalahari
Desert, are small (often under four feet in height), light-
complexioned (Miss Bleek says “ about putty-colour ”),
and in various other respects differ markedly from the
Bantu. They live by hunting, trapping, and collecting
whatever small animals, insects, fruits, and roots are re¬
garded as edible. They were driven into the more inhos¬
pitable regions and partially exterminated, first by the
invading Bantu and then by Europeans—whose treatment
of them is a very black page in our history. The Bantu,
however, in some cases killed the men only, and married
the women, which accounts for unusual types met with
here and there among the South African Bantu.* And
sometimes (as G. W. Stow thought was the case with the
earliest Bechuana immigrants) the newcomers may have
settled down more or less peaceably with the old inhabitants.
This I think not unlikely to have happened in the district
west of the Shire, in Nyasaland, where the local Nyanja-
speaking population (calling themselves, not quite correctly,

* Angoni ’) are small, dark, and wiry, and seem to have
absorbed a strong Bushman element. This fact, if true,
may explain some of their notions about the origin of man¬
kind, as we shall see later on.

The Bantu Languages

The Bantu languages, on the whole, are beautiful and
harmonious. None of them differ from each other much

1 I say * perhaps * because, though we know that the Hottentots were in the
Cape Peninsula long before the first Bantu reached the Fish river, we do not know
the relative times of their earlier migrations.

* Indeed, tradition records that a certain Xosa chief chose a Bush wo man for his
principal wife, so impressed was he by her skill in preparing a certain kind of
food to his taste.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

more than French does from Spanish or English from
Danish. No two, for instance, would be as far apart a»
English and French, or French and Welsh, though all these
belong to the same Indo-European family. The words
used are often quite different (we know that English and
American people, both speaking English, may use different
words for the same thing) ; but the grammar is everywhere,
in its main outlines, the same. It is scarcely necessary, at
this time of day, to say that an unwritten language mar have
a grammar,* and even a very complicated one.

It is not often that a speaker of one Bantu language can
understand another without previously learning it; but
most natives pick up each Other's speech with surprising
quickness. An East African who has travelled any con¬
siderable distance from his home will probably speak three
or four dialects with ease.

Customs and Beliefs : The Spirit World

Besides this relationship in language, all the Bantu have
many customs and beliefs in common. AH of them have,
more or less vaguely, the idea of one God, though some of
them do not dearly distinguish him from the sky or the sun,
or even, as we shall see, from the first ancestor of the tribe.
They believe in survival after death, and think that the
ghosts of the dead can interfere to almost any extent in the
affairs of the Jiving. They do not seem to have any idea of
immortality as we understand it; in fact, some distinctly
say that the ghosts go on living only as Jong as people re¬
member them (which is very much what Maeterlinck says
in Tht Blut Bird I). Ordinary people have no memory' or

1 This ii (Lot lhr pbrn tti give drLaili of Bantu \ but it may bt±

explained lha( ninini air divided [tilm c)avM p dk* Em glutted by pcgfra^i which abu
jcrv^ Eq diJlrirnliatc ttor dnguW and plural. The chm which (fu^EsEi «if nOUI4
deiicning perwna haa, in lb c ainjjuhr, the pirfii Afw or AjT, in the plunl Rzr, dr wmc
jnodiiouiou of the far™ g tfeu* Mu-ila is one individual q£ the Ik tribe. Ba-iia
more thin one- Sometime! ibe plan! prefi* Jma ii uicd, dj in Am*-ndebeJc.
Other pnedjrci (AV r CM r Si t or Sr — famed (TLti Lu) ire med with the nmc item to
indicate the language, m KI**triMli P Chi-nyinja, Sc-*wo p Lu^nadi. But It ia
nften man convenient Ed 11 k the item without the pnefil.

INTRODUCTORY

tradition of Anyone beyond their great-grandparents, so that,
except for great chiefs and heroes, there would never be
more then three generations of ghosts in existence. But,
however that may be, thu influence of the dead is seen in
every department of life, A man gets directions from his
father's spirit before starting on any undertaking—cither in
a dream, or by consulting a diviner, or through all sorts of
omens. For instance, a Yao, 1 when thinking of going on
a journey, would go to his chief, who would then take a
handful of flour and drop it slowly and carefully on the
ground. If it fell in the shape of a regular cone the omen
would, so far, be good. They would then cover up the cone
with a pot, and leave it till the next morning. If It was
found to be quite undisturbed the man could go on his
journey with an easy mind; but if any of the flour had fallen
clown he would give it up at once. Either the spirits did
not, for some reason of tneir own, wish him to go, or they
knew that some danger awaited him, and this was their
warning.

if anyone is ill it is supposed that some ancestral ghost is
offended and has sent the sickness, or else that some human
enemy has bewitched the patient. In either case the diviner
has to consult the spirits to find out who is responsible and
what is the remedy. Drought, floods, a plague of locusts,
or any other natural calamity may be due to the anger of
the spirits.

In short, one may say that this belief in the power and
influence of the dead is the basic fact in Bantu religion. We
hear, rather doubtfully, of other spirits, some of which may
be personified nature powers, but many of these (such as
the Mwenembago , 1 Lord of the Forest,' of the Wazaramo,
in Tanganyika Territory) seem to have been human ghosts
to begin with. i ,

The dead arc supposed to go on living for an indefinite
time underground, very much as they have done on the
upper earth. There are many stories describing the

1 The home of the Ysiu Uribe ii in ibe Lujerda Valley, Portuguese Em Africa,
vhenre they have ipnrad into TjjiganyiJu Territory and JtJyWand.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

adventures of people who have accidentally reached this
country (called by the Swahili kuzimu 1 ), usually through
following a porcupine, or some other burrowing animal, into
its hole. This happened, in Uganda, to Mpobe the hunter,
to the Zulu Uncama, and to an unnamed man of the
Wairamba (in Eastern Unyamwezi). The story is found
in so many different places that the idea seems to be held
wherever a Bantu language is spoken.

One does not hear very much of ghosts appearing to
survivors “ in their habit as they lived ”; though it is a
common occurrence (as I suppose it is everywhere) for
people to see and talk with their dead friends in dreams.
But they often come back in other shapes—mostly as snakes,
and very often as birds—sometimes in the form of that un¬
canny insect the mantis, which some people call “ the spirits’
fowl.” Later on we shall find some very striking tales, in
which the ghost of a murdered man or woman haunts the
murderer in the shape of a bird and calls on the kinsmen to
avenge the slain.

The High God

The High God, when thought of as having a definite
dwelling-place at all—for usually they are rather vague
about him—is supposed to live above the sky, which, of
course, is believed to be a solid roof, meeting the earth at
the point which no one can travel far enough to reach.
People have got into this country by climbing trees, or, in
some unexplained way, by a rope thrown up or let down;
and, like Jack after climbing the beanstalk, find a country
not so very different from the one they have left. In a Yao
tale a poor woman, who had been tricked into drowning her

1 The Swahili are a Bantu-speaking people, descended partly from Arab
traders and colonists, and partly from the different African tribes with whom
these Arabs intermarried. Their home is the strip of coast from Warsheikh to
Cape Delgado, but they have travelled far and wide as traders, carriers, and
Europeans’ servants, and spread their language over a great part of the con¬
tinent. The root - zimu , with different prefixes, is found in many Bantu lan¬
guages, and sometimes means a mere ghost, sometimes a kind of monster or
cannibal ogre.

INTRODUCTORY

baby, climbed a tree into the Heaven country and appealed
to Mulungu , 1 who gave her child back to her.

The High God is not always—perhaps not often—con¬
nected with creation. The earth is usually taken for granted,
as having existed before all things. Human beings and
animals are sometimes spoken of as made by him, but else¬
where as if they had originated quite independently. The
Yaos say, “ In the beginning man was not, only Mulungu
and the beasts.” But they do not say that God made the
beasts, though they speak of them as “ his people.” The
curious thing is that they think Mulungu in the beginning
lived on earth, but went up into the sky because men * had
taken to setting the bush on fire and killing “ his people.”
The same or a similar idea (that God ceased to dwell on
earth because of men’s misconduct) is found to be held by
other Bantu-speaking tribes, and also by the Ashanti people
in West Africa and the 4 Hamitic ’ Masai in the east. It
may be connected with the older and cruder notion (still to
be traced here and there) that the sky and the earth, which
between them produced all living things, were once in
contact, and only became separated later.

Whatever may once have been the case, prayers and
sacrifices are addressed to the ancestral spirits far more
frequently than to Mulungu or Leza. The High God is
not, as a rule, thought of as interfering directly with the
course of this world ; but this must not be taken too abso¬
lutely. Mr C.W.Hobley, among the Akamba, and the Rev.
D. R. Mackenzie, among the people of North Nyasaland,

* This word, which in some languages means 4 the sky,* is used for 4 God * by
the Yaos, the Anyanja, the Swahili (who shorten it into Muungu), the Giryama,
and some others. Other names are Chiuta, Leza, Kalunga (in Angola), Nzambe
(on the Congo ; American Negroes have made this int ojumbi, mostly used in the
plural, meaning ghosts or bogies of some sort), Katonda (in Uganda), and Unkulu-
nkulu (among the Zulus). This last (which is not, as some have thought, the same
word as Mulungu) has sometimes been taken to mean the High God, sometimes the
first ancestor of the tribe, who lived so long ago that no one can trace his descent
from him.

1 For whom Mulungu was in no way responsible. The first human pair were
found by the chameleon (a prominent character in African mythology) in his
fish-trap I See Duff Macdonald, Africaner vol. i, p. 295.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

have recorded Instances of direct prayer to the High God
in times of distress or difficulty*

The Origin of Mankind

As to the way in which mankind came into being, there
are different accounts. The Zulus and the! hongas(Dekgoa
Bay people) used to believe that the first man came out
of a reec; some say a reed-bed, but the more unlikely-
sounding alternative is probably the true one, as some native
authorities distinctly mention the exploding of the reed to
let him out. Besides, it is a custom of the Basuto to stick
a reed in the ground beside the door of a hut in which a
baby has been born. The Hercros think their ancestors
came out of a certain tree called Omumborombonga. This
identical tree (I understand that ordinary members of the
species arc not uncommon) is believed to exist somewhere
in the Kaoko veld, north of the Ugab river, in the South¬
western Territory. The Hereros, who are great stock¬
breeders (or were till the tribe fell on evil days), said that
their cattle came out of Omumborombonga along with
them, but the small stock, sheep and goats (kirinyee in
Dutch), came out of a hole in the ground, along with the
Bushmen and, presumably, the game on which the Bushmen
lived, The mention of sheep and goats in this connexion
is curious, as the Bushmen never kept any domestic animals,
except dogs. The Bechuana did not attempt to account for
the origin of the Bushmen ; they had been in the country,
along with the game, from time immemorial, before the
Bechuana came into it.

The hole in the ground Is interesting, because the
Anyanja of Nyasaiand used to say that the first people
came out of a hole or cave somewhere to the west oi Lake
Nyasa: the place, which is called Kapirlmtlya, has even
been pointed out to Europeans. The footprints of the first
man and of the animals, which came out with him are said
to be impressed on a rock in this place.

The Bantu never seem to have regarded death as an
inevitable process of nature. Everywhere we find stories

INTRODUCTORY

explaining haw it began, and usually blaming the chameleon.
I shall tell Borne of these in a later chapter. People who
do not accept the chameleon story sometimes speak of
Death as a person, and call him Walumbe, or Lirufu, or
Kalunga-ngombe.

We hear now and then about people who live in the sky,
though it is not very clear who they are. In the legends of
the Bagandn Heaven (Gulu), his sons, ami his daughter
Nambi are very much like an ordinary human family; but
Heaven is less personal in the thought of the ftathonga, who
call it Tilo, ana speak of its sending rain, lightning, locusts,
and—twins I M. Junod says it “ is sometimes looked on
as a real being, sometimes as an impersonal power "; and
the ' rain-doctor,’ when facing the approaching thunder¬
storm, shouts, " You, Heaven, go further I l have nothing
against you I I do not fight against you I "—addressing it
as a person. Besides Tilo himself, the sky is inhabited by
little people called JBalungwana, who have sometimeB been
seen to fall from the clouds when some disaster was about
to befall the country. Twins, too, are called the “children
of Heaven .’* 1 Elsewhere the Heaven-dwellers are, strangely
enough, described as having tails ; but it is difficult to learn
much about them.

There is in the legends of some South African tribes a
mysterious being called Hobyana (Huvcane) or Khudjana,
sometimes said to be 11 the creator of heaven and earth and
the first ancestor of the race,” and sometimes the son of the
creator (Rivimbi, Luvimbi, or Levivi, by cithers vaguely
identified with a famous rain-maker of old times). But at
the same time he is represented as a tricksy being, some of
whose exploits recall those of the European Till Euleii-
spiegd. He does not seem to be known beyond the Zambezi
—indeed, I doubt whether his legend reaches as far as that;
but parts of it coincide with incidents in the life of some very
different heroes—Kachirambe and the boy who saved his
people from the Swallowing Monster, aswe shall sec later on.

1 Twin# an in wme piro of Africa ^uuitkrtd ftry IueIct, in when
hnlucky—to much 90 dux [e feaj jomctimci ken fbe cuitmai 10 kill Om Of both.

a 3

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

As a rule one does not go to fairy-tales for high moral
teaching; they are the playground of irresponsible fancy,
and we do not look too closely into the ethics of Jack the
Giant-killer or Rumpelstilzchen. Legends* of a more or
less religious character* are a different matter, and this story
of the Swallowing Monster may be taken as coming under
that description. "There is another type of story embodying
a deep feeling of right and wrong, in which the spirit of a
murdered person haunts the slayer in the form of a bird,
and at last brings him to justice, as in the stories of
■' Nyengcbuleand ‘'Masilo and Masilonyane.”

Ogres (Amaziiuu)

The monster just mentioned links on to a class of beings
variously described in English as 1 cannibals/ * ogres,’ or
merely ' monsters ’—in Zulu amemmu ; in other languages
m&dittto, ntarimiij or simvti. It is a little misleading to call
them cannibals* as they are never merely human beings,
though sometimes taking (temporarily, at least) human
shape. Zulu folklore ia full of them, but one meets them
more or less everywhere, and one favourite story, about the
girl who, in some versions* was swallowed, in others carried
about in a bag, crops up in all sorts of unexpected places.
The irimst of the Chaga people (on Kilimanjaro mountain)
ia sometimes spoken of as a leopard; but he is clearly not
an ordinary leopard, and in a Nyanja story, which will be
told in full later on, we shall find a hyena who can turn
himself into a man when he pleases. It is everywhere
thought possible for animals to change into human beings,
or human beings into animals; there are even at the present
day people who say they have known it to happen : it is a
favourite trick of the most wicked kind of witch. Besides
turning themselves into animals, witches and wizards have
the power of sending particular creatures out on their horrid
errands—the baboon, the hyena, the owl; sometimes the
leopard and the wild cat. This is why Zulus do not (or
did not till lately) like you to use the words iitgm (leopard)
and itspaka (wild cat; the domestic cat, iiaii f does not
24

A Scene in Natal

The home of some typical Sputh African Bantu.
Photo Mariannhill Mission

INTRODUCTORY

matter) i you must call them hy some other name.
Another kind of familiar is the resuscitated and mutilated
corpse (Zulu untko i’Hf 'i ao itdonJecia) t of which some account
will be given in Chapter XVI.

Animal Stories

Many of the stories which I shall have to tell are entirely
concerned with animals, who are shown speaking and acting
just as if they were human beings. Wc alt remember the
V Uncle Remus" stories, which originally came from
Africa, though naturally somewhat changed through being
adapted to American surroundings: Unde Remus felt
called upon to explain that “ de beastwaes " were once
upon a tune like people; the original story-teller would not
have thought it necessary, since, to his mind, there was no
great difference. We do not hear animals talk, but that
may be because we cannot understand their language and
why should wc suppose that their minds work otherwise

than ours? . . . ,

It seems quite likely that our jEsops babies originate
in Africa. Luqman, the Arab fabulist spoken of with
approval by Muhammad, in the thirty-first chapter of the
Koran, is said to have been an 'Ethiopian —that is, a
M Cff ro—slave. His stories were passed on to Greece,
where he was known as Aithiops, and this was taken to be

his name and turned into JEsop- . . . ,

The favourite animal in the Bantu stones is the H .
there are no rabbits in Africa south of the Sahara, and it
would seem that Europeans, warned^ by the odaimhcs ot
Australia, have refrained from introducing thtm. Unde
Remus, knowing more about rabbits than Sates,
him into Brer Rabbit, just as the hyena (who cheats and
5-treats the hare, and is finally 'bested' by him) has
become Brer Wolf or Brer Fox. If Uncle Remus nearly
always gives animals a title— 'Brer Rabbit, Mb Cow,
and so on—this must be because hia African forefatheni
did the same; wc generally find them distinguished m
some way when figuring in taleat sometimes, indeed, they

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

art called by quite a different name. But the Bantu do
not go as far as the Bushmen, who use different forms of
words (with extra clicks) for the speeches of animals in
the stories, and have a different tone of voice for each
animal when recking these speeches.

In some parts, as in the Congo forest country, where
there are no hares, the same tales are told of a little antelope,
the water chevrotain (I) if calk cti uni ), called by the Congo
natives nseihu The reason why these two creatures, so
small and weak, arc made the principal heroes of African
folklore seems to be a deep-seated, inarticulate feeling that
the strong cannot always have things their own way and
the under-dog must some time or other come into his own.
The lion and the elephant stand for stupid, brutal force,
though the hyena, on the whole, gets the worst character;
the tortoise overcomes every one else in the end (even the
hare) by quiet, dogged determination; but he sometimes
(not always) shows a very unamiable side to his disposition.

These are the principal figures in the animal stories,
though a good many others make their appearance in¬
cidentally.

The Zulu stories winch have been collected (there must
still be many others not published or even written down)
are more or less like our own fairy-tales: about chiefs’
sons and beautiful maidens, lost children, ogres, witches,
enchanters, and so forth; but they also have their hare
stories.

Much the same may be said of the Basuto, only they
give some of the hare’s most famous adventures to the
jackal. This trait is probably borrowed from the Hotten¬
tots, who, like the Galla in North-eastern Africa (where
the Hottentots came from, no one knows how long ago),
have no opinion of the hare’s intelligence, and tell you that
it is the jackal who is the clever one. And some of the
same incidents are told by the Zulus of a queer little
being called Hlakanyana, a sort of Tom Thumb, apparently
human, but by some people identified not with the hare,
but with a kind of weasel.

INTRODUCTORY

The circumstances of his birth are peculiar, which is also
the case with some very different personages: Kachirambe of
the Nyanja, Galinkalanganye of the Hehe, and usually the
boy-hero who slays the Swallowing Monster. Ryang’ombe,
the hero of theLake Regions, distinguished himself by eating
a whole ox when only a few hours old—a feat in which he
even surpassed Hlakanyana.

The Baganda and Banyaruanda have many tales or
legends of a type similar to those mentioned above, while
other Bantu tribes seem to have more animal stories and
less of the other kind; but they probably exist side by side
everywhere. In attempting, as I have done, to present the
most attractive specimens of both I have sometimes found
it necessary to combine two or more versions so as to get
a more complete and coherent whole.

CHAPTER II: WHERE MAN CAME FROM,
AND HOW DEATH CAME

N O one seems to know when the South African Bantu
first came into the country now occupied by them.
It is certain that the Bushmen, and in some places
the Hottentots, were there before them. One proof of
this is found in the names of places, and especially of rivers,
which in the Cape Province often contain clicks (the Iqora,
called by Europeans Bushman’s River ; the Inxuba, which
is the Fish river; and many others); while in Natal and
Zulul&nd most of the river-names have a decided Hantu
sound—Utngcni, Tugda, and so on. The Bantu came
from the north-east, and reached the Kei river about the
end of the seventeenth century, when they first came in
contact with the Dutch colonists. But they must have
been in Natal and the regions to the north-east long before
that, for in 1498, when Vasco da Gama’s fleet touched
somewhere near the mouth of the Limpopo, one of his
crew, Martin Affonso, found he could understand the talk
of the natives, because it was very' much like what he had
picked up on the West Coast, probably in Angola or on the
Congo. It is also known that the Makaranga, who arc still
living in Southern Rhodesia, were there in 1505, when the
Portuguese first heard of them, and they must have settled
there Jong before, as they had something like an organized
kingdom, under a paramount chief, whom the Portuguese
called Monomotaps,

Zulu CLio Tradition

These Makaranga are by some thought to be the
ancestors of the Amalala, the first of the Bantu to take up
their abode in the countries we know as Natal and Zululand.
One of their tribes has a quaint story of the way in which
their first ancestor brought his family to their new home,
This was Malandda, son of Gumede, who came into the
UmhJatuze valley, Father Bryant thinks, about 1670. It
is said that when they had marched, day after day, for many
28

******* w fc^rsn mu*J JjI - M im. jr A T .

MVW^ HJ.U1 J_3XIT(r|| I SJtmiJ

WHERE MAN CAME FROM

weary miles, and the old man found his strength failing, he
made his wives and children get into an hiluiti —" one of
the huge globular baskets still used for storing grain." 1
He then, with one last effort, launched the basket on its way
with one might}' kick, and fell back dead, it rolled on
“ over hill and dale, river and forest, till at last it stopped
and steadied i and when those within ventured to look out
they found themselves in this country where we now live,”
so some of their descendants, "who are still nicknamed
* those belonging to the basket,*" told Miss Colenso,*
But Father Bryant, who has made very careful inquiries into
Zulu traditions, has unkindly spoilt this story. He says
that the real meaning of " those belonging to the basket ”
ts that Mai and da's family, when driven by famine from
their old homes, brought with Lhem these grain-baskets,
which were then a novelty to the people among whom they
settled.

However that may be, Malandela was the father of
Ntombela, the father of Zulu, and so the ancestor of the
great Zulu kings. Solomon, son of Diauzulu,^ who has
recently died, was the twelfth in descent from him. I he
graves of these kings, Ironi Malandela to Semangakona,
father of Tshaka, art; pointed out near Bubanango, in the
valley of the White lndoiozi river, Dinuzulu too is buried
near them, but his father lies in the [nkmidhla forest, in
Zululand, and his grandfather, Mpande, at Nodwengu.

Tribal Migrations

Zulus and Xosas alike trace their descent from a tribe
called Nguni (Abcnguni, a name still preserved by the
Angoni of Nyasaland), who, after coming from the nort ,
as well as the Basuto, Bechuana, and Hereros, settled some¬
where in the Upper Limpopo valley, bather Bryant
thinks that they must have made a long circuit to the west,

1 AU (hr fwiWAr (plural) of tbc % « “« fflopf

'"'Mo*? who can* to England in w

CorerniDeiii for junlw to Zultot t b!nU » ** " ofll ‘ 6mJy ' „

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

creasing the Zambezi near its source* or even going round
its head-waters, as it would have been impassable to them
11 by any eastern or even central crossing.” 1 Be that as
it may, while some of the Nguni remained in the Limpopo
valley part of the tribe set off about the year IJOQ to
the eastward, and these* again, two hundred years later,
broke up into two sections, one of which continued its
southward march, and ultimately gave rise to the Xosa and
Tembu tribes. Zulu and Xosa may now be considered as
dialects of the same language: they do not differ much
more, if at all, than Lowland Scots and standard English,
and originally, of course, they were one.

As centuries progressed, old wools and forms fell out here and
new came in there, each section developing its speech along
different lines, till to-day Ntungwa anil Xnsi arc separated by a
quite considerable extent of dialectical difference in speech. T he
Xosa language, it may be noted, has preserved for us the old-rime
term tin Nguni (Nguniland —there whence ihey came) mi signi¬
fying in the West/* *

The differences in vocabulary arc considerable, just as
we find that in different English counties the same things
are not always called by the same names; the grammar is
almost identical; but the Xosa intonation, rather than the
pronunciation of individual sounds, is decidedly strange to
an ear accustomed to Zulu. This being so, it is only to
be expected that both sections of the South-eastern Bantu
should have many talcs and legends in common, and I shall
not always try to distinguish between them.

The Reed and the Reed-bed

The Bantu, as a rule, do not try to account for the origin
of the hum in race as a whole, or, rather, their legends seem
to assume that the particular tribe in question if the human
race; though, as we have seen, there are some who con-

1 Y« nr k[»w that Zwangencbbi - . Jiwt erwsed in iSJJ war Zumbo in the
height flf the dry kwci, when ihe rive/ wu rtiy Jew*

1 Biyiol, Oidim Timeit p.

WHERE MAN CAME FROM

descend to recognize the Bushmen. They also frequently
fail to distinguish between a non-hum an creator and the
first human ancestor, which has led to a good deal of dis¬
cussion as to the real meaning of the Zulu Unkulunkuhi,
who * broke off' mankind from Uhlanga. VManga means
1 a reed,’ and there seems no reason to doubt that this at
first was intended quite literally, for, as one native told Dr
Ca 11 away, " it was said that two people came out of a reed.
There came out a man and a woman,” Some have refused
to believe that this was really meant, and take Callaway’s
view that uManga is a metaphorical expression for " a
source of being.” It certainly has come to he used in this
sense, but 1 should he inclined to look on this as a later
development anti the reed as the original idea. The
Baronga of Dclagoa Kay 1 told M, Junod that " one man
and one woman suddenly came out from a reed, which
exploded, and there they were 1 11 Some native* authorities
say that the first pair came out of a reed -bed (timMaxga),
but one is inclined to think that the cruder version is the
more primitive, and is reminded of the Hercros and their
Omumborombonga tree.

The Chameleon

Most, if not all, of the Bantu have the legend of the
chameleon—everywhere much the same, though differing
in some not unimportant details—-explaining how death
came into the world, or, rather, how it was not prevented
from coming. I will give it first as it was told to Dr
Callaway by Fulatela Sitole, and afterwards mention some
of the variations.

Ic is said he (Unkulunkuhi) sent a chameleon; he add to £

“ Go, chameleon Qumuabu), go and say, * Let not men die !

The chameleon set out; ir went slowly, t( loitered m ihe wav ;
and sis it wenc it aEt of fruit or 4 bosh whicii is i+ilk'ii

1 The Baraga a« 3 l) ranch of the p**l Thong* tbIwt, (Amawn^aJ. _ Fubcr
Bryant uyj that " (he rcbtiontlhip brtwrrJi ihc N(S“{Zu IU-Ximu), Sutu (Banilt.),
and Thong* Bantu familia may lie likened 10 eiiilmf in Europe between
the Engluh, German*, and Scandinavian' Ilf the Nordic race."

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Ubukwebczafie. At length Unkulunkulu a lizard {«**. the
hluv-lieaded gecko] after the chameteon, when it had already set
ou, for some rime. The li«nl went, it ran and mife
haste forUnkulunhdu had aid, “ L^rd, when P u have armed
5 av ‘ Let men die !'" So rhe lizard went, and and, I teil you,
it is said, 'Let men die I' ” The lizard came ba.k again m
Unlculunkulu before the chameleon had readied his destination,
the chameleon, which was sent first— which was : sent and told to
go and say. “Let not men die 1 " At length it^mveJ and
shouted, saying, “ It is said, ‘ Let not men ic ^

answered, " Oh, wc have accepted the word of die lizard ; it has
told us the word,' It is said " Let men die," ’ W t cmnst inair
your word. Through the word of the lizard men will die.

Here no reason is given for Unkulunkulu’s sending the
second messenger. I do not think any genuine native
version suggests that he changed his mind un account ot
men’s wickedness. Where this is said one suspects i o
be a moralizing afterthought, due perhaps to European
influence.

The Luyi Legend

Some other versions assume that the creator had not
made up his mind, and decided to let the issue depend on
which messenger arrived first. The Luj'i tribe of the
Zambezi call the creator Nyambe, and give him a wife,
Nasilelc.* She wanted men to die for ever, but Nyambe
wished them to live again. Nyambe had a dog of whom
he was very fond. The dog died, and Nyambe wished to
restore him to life, but Nasileie objected. He i sat hud,
and I do not like him.” Some time after this Nasilcle s
mother died. (Nyam lie and his wife are stated to have been
the first human couple - but the student of mythology must
learn not to be surprised at contradictions of this sort)
She asked Nyambe to revive her mother, but he refused,
because she had wanted his dog to stay dead, home
versions add that he gave in after a time, and set to work.

i Cdkway. JwkM&t p-3<

* ToU in full by Jieoiwt, “ Tests Losiyj, Nu. XI-Y.

WHERE MAN CAME FROM

but when [lie process was nearly complete Nasdelc ruined
everything by her curiosity. Then came the question
whether mankind in general should die for ever of live again*
and they agreed to settle rt by sending the chameleon and—
not the lizard., but the hare* who, as might be expected*
arrived first*

Elsewhere the lizard overhears the message* and* out of
mere spiteful mischief* hastens to get in first with the
(alleged) counter-order. It h not surprising that both
these creatures should be held unlucky. No unsophisti¬
cated African will touch a chameleon if he can help it, or
likes to see a European handling one; while for an inmh
to enter a Zulu hut is the worst of evil omens- In some
parts, indeed, the herd-boys, whenever they find a chame¬
leon, will poison it by squirting tobacco-juke or sprinkling
snuff into its open mouth.

The chameleon is the creature usually associated with
this legend among Bantu-speaking peoples; the Hottentots,
in -a similar story, make the messenger the hare, who Is sent
out by the Muon to tdl people, S| As I die and, dying, live*
so shall ye die and, dying, Iive. ,p In some versions he
reverses the message out of forgetfulness or stupidity; in
one he does it wilfully, having taken the place of the insect
who was to have carried the message. 1 It is to be noticed
that the idea throughout is not that man should be exempt
from death, but that he should return to life after it.

Legends current in Uganda

The Bantu must have brought this legend with them
when they came from the north, for it is also known to the
people or Uganda* as well as to others in between. But
the Baganda have another story telling how Death came—
Death, who, in this tale* is thought of as a person, ami called
Walumbe. Tits one belongs to the Bahima (or Hatusi) cow¬
herds* who came in from the north with their long-horned
cattle* and made themselves chiefs in Uganda and Unyoro

_ 1 Bkrk, Rynard tk* Fax in SaufA Jfrrca, jip. ftp-73 I SrlmltM-., NnmalMd unJ
KnlfAe rr* p. j pfSi .

myths and legends of the bantu

and Ankolc. 1 But it is the: peasants, the original BantuBving
in the country before the Bahum time, who have the chame¬
leon story. The tale of Kmtu, the first man, who married
the daughter of Heaven (Guiu), has been ^ld so oft«i thaUt
need not be repeated here. 11 may be read in Dr Kfiscoe »
The Bagaxcfd, and in a charming little book by Mrs
Uaskervilie, The King of the Snakes. I here, too, can be
found the story of Mnobe, the hunter, who wandered into
tl.e presence of Death, but was allowed to depart will a
warning never to speak of what he had seen, tie was able
to resist all persuasion to do so, till at last his mother over¬
came his reluctance, and Death immediately came to claim

Such personifications of Death do not seem to be very
common in Bantu mythology; but the Basumbwa of
North-western Unyamwezi, in a somewhat similar l^ena,
call him Lirufu, and one occasionally hears of a chiet or
the ghosts,'* who may be identical with him,

Kalunga of the Ambundu

The Ambundu of Angola speak of Lalunga, a word
which may mean either Death, the King ot the Nether¬
world (usually called, why I do not know, Kalunga-rgombe,
" Kalunga of the cattle "), or the sea. This is not strange
when one remembers that, though living, many of them,
on the coast, thev arc not a seagoing people, and to tiie
sense of dread and mystery with which the ocean would
naturally affect them would be added the memory of the
thousands carried away on slave-ships, never to return.
The Ndonga and Kwanyama, to the south of Angola, u*e
this name for their High God, whom the Hereros too call

Njambi Karunga. ,

Some Mbundu stories gore us a glimpse of Kalunga ana
his kingdom. Here arc two of them. 8

1 They lenj»tf * *rp*i=te people in Upndi Itself, a they me in Aiikuie

*nd Ruintij, lince evtU tlKtr kings ind frwt tbicfii mimed women o

ccraniry.

* Cbatolnn* Fett-tubi *f Angoh., pp^ 2*3 ^49,

WHERE HAN CAME FROM

The first is called u King Kitamba kin Shib*/' Kitamba
was a chief who lived at KasanjL He lost his head-wife.
Queen Muhongo, and mourned for her many days* Not
only did he mourn himself, but he insisted on his people
sharing his grief* " My village, too, no man shall do any¬
thing therein* The young people shall not shout; the
women shall not pound ; no one shall speak in the village/ 1
His headmen remonstrated with him, but Kitamba was
obdurate, and declared that he would neither speak nor eat
nor allow anyone else to do so till his queen was restored to
him* The headmen consulted together, and called in a
'doctor 1 {kimhsnda)* Having received his fee (first a gun,
and then a cow) and heard their statement of the case, he
said, " All right/' and set off to gather herbs* These he
pounded in a" medicine-mortar, 1 and, having prepared some
sort of decoction, ordered the king and all the people to
wash themselves with it* He next directed some men to
"dig a grave in my guest-hut at the fireplace/ 1 which they
did, and he entered it with his little boy, giving two last
instructions to his wife : to leave off her girdle (i.e., to dress
negligently, as if in mourning) and to pour water every day
on the fireplace- I hen tlie men filled in the grave* The
doctor saw a road open before him; he walked along it with
his boy till he came to a village, where he found Queen
Muhongo sitting, sewing a basket. She saw him approach¬
ing, and asked, ,l Whence comest thou ? * h He answered, in
the usual form demanded by native politeness, " Thou
thyself, 1 have sought thee. Since thou art dead King
Kitamba will not cat, will not drink, will not speak. In the
village they pound not; they speak notj he says, * If [ shall
talk, if I cat, go ye and fetch my head-wife/ That is what
brought me here, I have spoken/' 1

The queen then pointed out a man seated a little way off,
and asked the doctor who lie was. As he could not say, she
told him, l+ He is Lord Kalunga-ngombe; he is always
consuming us, us all/ 1 Directing his attention to another
man, who was chained, she asked if he knew him, and he

1 Chair-tilin', litri-il UanilaiitiD of hi) ppeC’Ch,.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

answered,“He lookslike King Kitamba, whom I left where
I came from/’ Lt was indeed Kitamba, and the queen
further informed the messenger that her husband had not
many years to live, 1 and also that "Here in kalunga never
comes one here to return again," * She gave him the armlc
which had been buried with her, to show to kitamba as a
proof that he had really visited the abode of the dead, but
enjoined on him nor to tell the king that he had seen him
there. And he must not eat anything in kalunga; other¬
wise he would never be permitted to return to earth.

One is reminded of Persephone and the pomegranate
seeds, but the idea is one which frequently recurs in Bantu
legends of the Underworld, and t here is no reason to suppose
that it was borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the Greeks.
It seems quite natural to think that the food of the dead
would be fatal to the living.

Meanwhile the doctor's wife had kept pouring water on
the wrave. One day she saw the earth beginning to crack;
the cracks opened wider, and, finally, her husband s head
appeared. He gradually made his way out. and pulled his
small son up after him.' The child fainted when he came
out into the sunlight, hut his father washed him with some
* herb-medicine,' and soon brought him to.

Next day the doctor went to the headmen, presented his
report, wa* repaid with two slaves,' and returned to his
home. Thu headmen told Kitamba what he had said, and
produced the token. The only comment he rs recorded to
have made, on looking at the armlet, is " Truth, it is the
same." We tfo not hear whether he countermanded the
official mourning, but it is to be presumed he did so, for he
made no further difficulty about eating or drinking. Then,
after a few years, he died, and the story concludes, They
wailed the funeral; they scattered."'

i Thil Mtmt [0 be ihcwn by the appelrtllM of hi* wraith la ihe Underworld,
but iJv point if 031 further efpUitt&l

i Knhti^ therefort dfifwto the a* well a It* rukr.

3 ChatcW* I flfawiinti m tbc v&tten-tigh&M tfcai tin* wrt of ihinjj quite

u a mjtitr of cfuiftt.

WHERE MAN CAME FROM

How Ngtinza defied Death

The other story is about two brothers. Ngunza Kilundu
was away from home when a dream warned him that his
younger brother Maka was dead. On his return he asked
his mother* 41 What death was it; that killed Maka? " She
could only say that it was Lord Kalunga-ngombe who had
killed him. “ Then/ 1 said Ngunza, 41 I will go due and
fight Kalunga-ngombe. 81 He went at once co a blacksmith
and ordered a strong iron trap. When it was ready he Eook
it out into the bush and set it, hiding near by with his gun.
Soon he heard a cry, as of some creature in distress, and,
listening, made out words of human speech : 41 I am dying,
dying.'* It was Kalunga-ngombe who was caught in the
trap* and Ngunza took his gun and prepared to shoot. The
voice cried out, 11 Do not shoot me 1 Come to free me 1
Ngunza asked, 41 Who are you, that I should set you free? Ki
The answer came ; 41 I am kalunga-ngombc/’ 41 Oh, you
are Kalunga-ngombe, who killed my younger brother
Maka! IT KaJunga-ngombe understood the threat which
was left unspoken, and went on tn explain himself. 11 You
accuse me or killing people. I do not do it wantonly, or for
my own satisfaction; people arc brought to me by their
felfow-men, or through their own fault. \ou shall see this
for yourself Go away now and wait four days: on she
fifth you may go and fetch your brother in my country/ 1
Ngunza did as he was told* and went to kalunga. U in
not said how he got there—probably by some such mean*
as die doctor in the other story. There he was received by
Ralunga-ngombe, who invited him to take his place beside
him. The new arrivals began to come in. Kalunga-ngombc
asked the first man, " What killed you? " The man
answered that an earth he had been very rich; his neigh¬
bours were envious and bewitched him, so that he died/
The next to arrive was a woman 5 who admitted that vanity
had been the cause of her death—that is, she had been

1 A meire likely occurrence— and one rhat hil been known l«a Hi* plM£ wmU
have brru ||i4t icatukll of wucknift wu uvtnpcd up P vhich IkI W bl»
BaORBOi

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

greedy of finery and admiration, had coquetted with men,
and had in the end been killed by a jealous husband. So
it went on : one after another came with more or less the
same story, and at last Kalunga-Ngombe said, " You see
how it is—1 do not kill people; they are brought to me for
one cause or another. It is very unfair to blame me. Now
you may go to Milunga 1 and fetch your brother Malta.* 1

Ngunza went as directed, and was overjoyed at finding
Maka just as he had left him at their home, and, apparently,
leading much the same sort of life as he had on earth. They
greeted each other warmly, and then Ngunza said, “ Now
let us be off, for I have come to fetch you home." But,
to his surprise, Maka did not want to go. “ I won't go
back ; I am much better off here than I ever was while I
lived. If I come with you, shall I have as good a time ? 11
Ngvmzn did not know how to answer this, and, very un¬
willingly, had to leave his brother where he was. He turned
away sadly, and went to take leave of Kalunga, who gave
him, 1S J parting present, the seeds of all the useful plants
now cultivated m Angola, and ended by saying, " In eight
days I shall come to visit you at your home. 1 '

This part of the story grows very puzzling, as no reason
is givftn tor the visit* and it would almost seem^ from what
o lows, as if condition had been imposed which

Ngiinza did not keep,* Kaiunga came to Ngunza's home

on the eighth day, and found that he had fled eastward_

thans, inland. He pursued him from place to place, and
finally ame up w,th him. Ngunza asked why Kaiunga
should have followed him, adding, *' You cannot kill me,
for J have done you no wrong. You have been insisting
that you do not kill anyone—that people are brought to
you through some fault of theirs." Kaiunga, for all

b?r!T, i-! h > rCW Ngunza, and Ngunza “ turned

into a km spirit. This is not further explained, but we

1 II ii mi «W what eIlei pW wai.
word in (hft dftgi ml manmcnnt.

* rh^u:,. _ _... t . _ j

CltaEdflin «uM mot cren mib aut e!k

w *»* had di*™iry in get** * Mwf(nj ,

^ Of the |Wy 1MM no<« ' left ky * hc| |tr w h„ dic J

WHERE MAN CAME FROM

find elsewhere that a kituta (or kianda) is " a spirit or demon
. , . who rules over the water and is fond of great trees
and of hill-tops.” Such river-spirits figure in several other
stories from Angola.

In the story From Uganda already referred to Mpobe had
to die because he had, in spite of the warning received,
spoken about hts visit to the kingdom of the dead. Some-
thing of the sort may have been said in the correct version
of the Mbundu story. Then, again, Ngunza is not said to
have been killed, but to have become a kituta —one docs not
see why. In the ordinary course of things, one gathers,
those who depart this life;go on living for an indefinite time
in Kalunga; but after that they die again, and this timecease
to exist. We shall have to consider this point more fully
when speaking of the ancestral spirits.

It seems quite clear from all these legends that the African
does not, when he thinks about the matter at all, look upon
death as an essential fact in nature. It appears to be accepted
that, but for some unforeseen accident, or perhaps sonic piece
of Carelessness or wilful disobedience, people need never
have died at all. To the same set of ideas belongs the
prevalent belief that any death whose cause is not under¬
stood (and the number of such deaths is now steadily
decreasing) must be due to witchcraft. Kaiunga, if we are
to think of him as the High God, is exceptional in living
underground. Leza, Muhingu, Iruwa, and so on, if they
have a local habitation at all, are placed in the sky, as we
shall see in the next chapter.

CHAPTER HI: LEGENDS OF THE
HIGH GODS

T HE Lczft and Nyambe of the Upper and Middle
Zambezi tribes exhibit the same confusion between
the High God and the first man which we noticed in
the case of the Zulu Unkulunkulu; and, further, they appear
to be more or leas identified with the sky and the rain. The
Basubiya say that Loza once lived on earth. He was a ver y
strong man, a great chief; when he was seated in his
kkolia (place of the chiefs council) " it was as though the
sun were sitting there," I t was he who sent out the chamc-
Jeon with the message that men should live again after death.
Leza is said to send rain ; the Baila use such expressions as
" Leza. will fall much water,” " Leza throws down water,"
The Rev. E. W. Smith obtained from these people a
curious story , 1 the conclusion of which recalls the only
comfort Gautama Buddha could give to the bereaved mother.
It also indicates the belief that Leza causes death—at any
rate, premature death.

The Woman's Search for God

An old woman, whose parents had died when she was a
child, lost all her sous and daughters, one after another, and
was left with no one belonging to her. When she was very
old and weary she thought she must be about to follow them;
but instead of that she found herself growing younger, and
was seized with a strong desire to find Leza and ask him
the meaning of it all. Thinking that he had his abode in
the sky, she began to cut down trees and make a scaffolding
by which she could climb up, A similar device is said to
have been tried by the Baluyt, by the Wasu of Parc (East
Africa), and by the ancestors of the Ashanti.

But when she had built it up to a considerable height the
lower poles rotted away, and the whole fell down, she falling
with it. She was not hurt, and tried again, but with no
better success. At last she gave up in despair, and set out

1 Smith and Dak, The !ln-jpeehixg FapUi, vot. jj, p, 197.

A MjlN of -rut: Bakw*.?™

I'K/if .1. .1/, n n i" Hj r ^mniMI */ f*T 1 Vuk'«f, ATriflAiWO

LEGENDS OF THE HIGH GODS

to reach the place -w here, as she believed, the sky joins the
earth. So she wandered through one country after an other,
and when the people asked her what she wanted she said,
“* I am seeking Leza." “ What do you want of him?"
" My brothers, you ask me ? Here in the nations is there
one who has suffered as [ have suffered ? , , . I am alone.
Am you see me, a solitary old woman, that is how 1 am ! "

The people answered, “Yes, we see 1 That is how you
arc I Bereaved of friends and kindred? In what do you
differ from others? Shikakunamo 1 sits on the back of
every one of us, and wc cannot shake him off! "

Prayer to the High God

It is often stated that Africans in general neither pray to
the High God nor oiler sacrifices to him, nor, in fact, notice
him at all, beyond recognizing his existence. This is cer¬
tainly not true in the case of the Haila, and we have evidence
to the same effect from various quarters. The Bnpedi (a
branch of the Basuto living in the Transvaal) say that their
High God {MoiHmo o mvgojs) is called Huyeane, and they
pray to him for rain.* He made the sky and the earth, and
when he had finished them he climbed up into the sky
(conceived, of course, as a solid vault) by driving in pegs
on which he set his feet, taking out each one as soon as he
had stepped on the next, so that people should not be able
to follow him. And in the sky he has lived ever since.
This seems to be the original form of the incident, which,
when the myth had degenerated into a comic folk-talc,
appears as a trick played by tile graceless Huveanc on his
father.

Mr Hobley distinctly states that the Akamba tribe, in
Kenya Colony, pray to the God whom they call Kngai,

i ft one erf tbr nan rum Mptnctimci ll'-cJ by she biLEi tof Lef-1 ; II

menu 1 the btietUBg 1 one/ ibe OTIC who will 1 ft yenr aibrte —in ibii cue k Eld¬

ing one jffltetkm after another Bui in general In- it described 11 to di pinion ate
ami BKrdfoJ, drspitfi the u nraM&nahk nest of mankm<l, who hrg Urn for hraotj
and then gomplaaFi wlpl ll*y

K Wc shall meet with u t Hutcaoe—nr with ■ T*cry different cuEurpEmn

of the tune being—h a later chapter.

4 *

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

SB is rife
and then
sickness,
the spirit

ruwa) by
offerings
of prayer
jeople f at

mt liprai tnu Ui n;rw.., r -j — ■ ■' , j n °^rt, aa

Ndorombwike), and other instances might be cited. Thus
the High God cannot in all cases he described as otiose,
dwelling apart and not concerning himself with mankind
Or his affairs.

Chungu's Prayer , . ,

The Ngonde, just mentioned, say as a rule that they do
not pray directly to Kyala, but ask the spirits of their fore¬
fathers to intercede for them with him. Yet sometimes they
pray directly: “ Be gracious to us, O God, and hear the
prayers of those wham we have named ’ —4.c. t the ancestral
spirits. Mr Mackenzie tells of a chief called Chungu,
known to his people as the man who speaks with God*
and relates a remarkable story 1 of this Chungu having been
called in when the Domira steamer had run aground (near
Karonga’s, on Lake Nyasa) and could not be got oft.
Chungu came down to the shore and prayed, after sacrificing
a white cock, and immediately the vessel floated. It is a
ity that this incident does not seem to have been reported
y any of the Europeans who must have been on board.

Legend of Ngefceto

These same Ngondc people have a strange legend about
one Ngeketo, once a god of theirs, but now, as they say, wor¬
shipped only by the white men. He was the youngest of
three, the others being Lyambilo (still worshipped by the
Wakinga) and Mbasi, by some writers called * the Devil,'
* The Spirit- ritfilrn fpijj/lj p. 1|.

especially In seasons of distress. \Vhen aickne
among the people the headman prays first to Engai
to the spirit (i**) supposed to have caused the
11 They first pray to Engai, because they believe

has gone to Engai." . _ , «

Gutmann speaks of sacrifices offered to Goa (t
the Wachaga, which are clearly distinguished from
made to the ancestral spirits, and quotes old forms
used on such occasions* The Ngonde (honde) f

. I___ .. J A £" T rtbii

LEGENDS OF THE HIGH GODS

though that notion is wholly foreign to Bantu thought.
These two became jealous of Ngeketo, because he was
the first to plant maize in the country—the old home of the
Ngondc, near what is now Maherge. Together with " the
elders of the people " (who usually, on principle, dislike in¬
novations), they conspired to kill Ngeketo; but after three
days he came back to life in the form of a serpent. There¬
upon they cut him in pieces, but the pieces joined together,
and he revived once more. Again they killed him, ana again
he arose. Some people saw him, but he disappeared and
went away to the coast, “ where he became the god of the

white men." . .

We are assured that this story cannot be due to missionary
influence: it was known to the old men before the white
men came, and they told Mr Mackenzie that it had not been
changed in any way. It seems most likely that Ngeketo was
not really a High God, but a human ancestor, though not
honoured as such in the ordinary way, either because his
family had died out or because the tribe had moved away
from the place where he was buried and where only offerings
could be made to his spirit. If he really introduced the
maize plant (which, as we know', was brought from Brazil
by the Portuguese) his legend must certainly be later than
the sixteenth century; but the mention of that grain may
be a modernizing touch, in the usual manner of story-tellers,
and, originally, he may have planted millet or beans, dot
of which seem to have been known from very- early times.
It in interesting to note, in passing, that where there is a
tradition about millet the discovery is attributed to a woman,
and, strangely enough, is usually associated with a discredit¬
able motive.

of the Ruanda ,

The people of Ruanda recognize a Supreme Being
called I mans, clearly distinguished from the deified hero
KyWombc, whose legend will be given m another chapter
and from the imandwa, or ghosts. He is often spo cn o a.
a helper in difficulty and distress, but is never prayed ^tn

myths and legends of the bantu

*-*«.*** “ him

!BS

c# e".. «• ** ”, ^ it ir^d“ :“tt:

gif,from Imao.X «y*2K^S«Sa ” U»» i ■■ A

SK hi, ^[^ r ]

i - tp Tb\u 1-a-cr sixains to mean that ft man mu&

d££ » hi. own exertion?, innW of .*5™^

d3U nod « .nigh, he held fr> ™. ““g" fc«
rri»nrl fif thought as expressed in the others.. i>u
be merely a counsel of despair; in any ca.» ( ™« h » "V
sufficient information to see tv hat lies at the back of this

"'BSJ’figm in various legends, which show him di*-
tinctlv acting and speaking as a person) though) strange v
enough hi/n-c P b not* grammatical 1 ),
personal class, but in that containing the names of unnufe
TpSnt which opens up avenues of speculate not to be

entered on here, 1

^Oii^fthUde^nd? 1 suggests marked Ilami tic influence,
in die mention of the serpent Imana, once upon a_ time,
used to talk with men. One day he said to a man (whether
this was the first man on earth docs not appear)* Do n
S n to sleep to-night; I am coming to give you some good
news." There was a serpent hidden in the hut ^ "

heard these words. The man kept awake t,U «*cm
after which he was overpowered by sleep, and dtd not hear
when I mans came and called him. The serpent w _ .

watch and answered the call, lmana (who » never assumed
to be omniscient) thought the man was speaking, and said,

j *?*::** Bttis wsSSS

L ifT-S bm 1 ^ -y ?“ tte ™ !t ,ft ^ ^ “■*

whtet thrnr was reawR w Mf*** European mflutace,

I Jffkarmrtt* Rsainrfa, p,

LEGENDS OF THE HIGH GODS

“ You will die* but you will rise again ; you will grow old*
but you will get a new skin, you, your children, and your
grandchildren.” Next morning the man went to see Imana,
and complained that he had not received any message.
Imana asked, “It was not you, then, to whom I spoke in
the night ? ” “ No.” “ Then it must have been the snake,
who is for ever accursed. If a Tusi ever comes across that
snake let him kill it—likewise the Hutu and the Twa, Let
them kill one wherever they find it. But as for you, you
will die, you and your children and your children's children.”

Abarea, a local headman of the Galla, in the north-east of
Kenya Colony, told me a somewhat similar story current
among his people. In some respects it has a closer re¬
semblance to the chameleon legend ; here the messenger is
a bird (as far as I could make out, a sort of hornbill) who is
beguiled by the snake into reversing his message. As
Abarea remarked in Swahili, “Nyoka ni adui —the snake is
the enemy.”

It seems to be assumed that Imana is unable to reverse
the doom incurred through the serpent's treachery. Batusi,
Bahutu, and Batwa are the three tribes who make up the
population of Ruanda : the shepherd aristocracy, the Bantu
cultivators, and the potter serfs, probably descended from
the forest Pygmies,

The Story of the Glutton

Then we have the tale of Sebgugugu, the Greedy Man, 1
enforcing the homely old moral of the Goose who kid the
Golden Eggs, through a quite extraordinary case of stupid
and obstinate selfishness. Sebgugugu was a poor man whose
sole wealth was a white cow with her calf. One day, while
his wife was away, hoeing her garden-plot in the jungle, and
he was sitting in the sun outside his hut, a bird came and
perched on the gate-post. It began to sing, and as he
listened he seemed to hear these words : “ Sebgugugu, kill
the White One (Gitale ); kill the White One and get a

1 Hre HUriel, La Po/sU ckex Us primitifs , p, The story is also told, with
variation by Johanssen, Ruanda, p, i*o.

myths and legends of the BANTU

hundred!" When

I* only

this bird says . Ehc samC WO rds, and

Sebmgug'Sd,"JJoh'tyouumtaMnd? I.»™i*

ocDgugugu -n whifj'v 1 thill eel a hundred cows. Isn t

r»v‘ Wtado yZ LZl to tarlour children

1 her Bilk, end if yin kill her ^

t° T 1™ ™ ft® “he't* Sli’SdSiJSd killed
tt;! SSyhed heefferdinner, «.d W £«£
time on the test of the meat, but no cows a PP c ^ . . P.
of the White One, Then the bird came a^am* and this torn

advised him to kill the calf, which he d?d » *** * £
wife's opposition. When the meat was finished *»& no
COws were forthcoming they all be*an to be very hungry .
(An African might ask, “ What about the garden pr«Ju«?
—but no doubt it was the wrong time of year for that.)
Sebcugugu said to his wife, “ Now the children are starv-
incf^She answered, "Did I not teU you what would
happen when you would kill White; ? " Then, m despa,r,
thev decided to tramp in search ot food.

He tied up some of the children in mats, and put rest
into a basket, which his Wife carried on her head , he too
up the bundles, and so they started. They went on till the
were quite tired out, and sat down by the wayside, W
Sebffugugu cried out in his despair, \\ hat shall I do w uh
my children ?" Then Imana,who is the creator, came along
and said, “ Sebgugugu, what is your trouble; Xhe man
told him, and Imana pointed to a distant lull, saying, «e,
yonder is a cattle-kraal. Go there and dnnk the milk of the
cows. Thcv are being herded for me by a crow. Y ou must
always give him some of the milk, and be sure never to strike
him or use bad words to him.” So they went to the kraal■
There was no one there, but they found vessels full of milk.
When Sebguuueu had drunk as much as he wanted e gave
his wife some, and she fed the children. Then they all sat
down and waited to see what would happen.

LEGENDS OF THE HIGH GODS

When the sun was low they saw the cattle coming home;
there was no man or boy with them,, but a great white-necked
crow kept flying to and fro above them, calling them and
keeping them together. When they arrived Sebgugugu lit
a fire at the kraal gate to drive away the mosquitoes, fetched
a nail, and milked the cows, doing as he had been told and
giving a bowl full of milk to the crow herdsman, before they

all had their supper. ,

In this way all went well for some .time, and then
Sebgugugu began to be discontented. It is not clear what
he had to complain of; but evidently he was " that sort of
man. 1 ' He said to his wife, " Now the children are old
enough to herd the cattle for me I don't see what we w^nt
with that crow, I shall kill him." The wife protested in
vain, and Sebgugugu, taking his bow and arrows, lay m
wait for the return of the cattle when evening tell. When
the crow came near enough he shot an arrow at him, mtsset,
shot again—the crow flew away, and when he looked round
there were no cattle to be seen—not $o much as a stray calf.
The family were once more reduced to destitution. 5eb-
gugugu said, “ What shall I do?” His wife, of course.

a rock with several small cien* t
Guinea corn, milk, beans, and c
gathered up what he could carry

and returned to his wife.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Next da) - he went back to the rock, taking with him a basket
and ajar; but he grew impatient, because the corn, and so
on, trickled out slowly, ami he took a long time in tilling his
basket. lie complained of this to his wife, but persevered
for some days, and then told her that he was going to widen
the cracks in the rock, so that they could get more abundant
supplies. She tried to dissuade liim, with the usual result:
he went and cut some stout poles and hardened them in the
fire. He went to the rock and tried to enlarge the clefts,
using his poles as levers, but, with a crash like thunder, they
closed up, and no more corn or milk came forth, lie went
back to the camping-place and found no one there ; his wife
and children had disappeared without leaving a trace, and
he was alone in the forest. We are left to suppose that this
was the end of him.

Another version gives one more incident, perhaps less
dramatically effective, in which he is guilty of wilful dis¬
obedience, and is devoured by a monstrous wild beast. Both
agree in showing that Imana's patience had its limits.

Imana and the Childless Woman

One more legend 1 about tmana suggests the idea of a wise
and loving providence. A childless woman came to hi m
with the petition made by such women in all ages. I mans,
reader Of hearts, said to her, “ Go home, and if you timi a
little Creature in your path take it up and be kind to it."
She set out, pondering over these words, of which she could
not see the sense, anti as she drew near her sister's house
she saw the Iattcr T s little children playing in the dirt. One
of them getting in her way, she pushed it back, saving
angrily, "Be off! You're all over mud I “ The child's
mother came out, picked it up, and washed it clean. Her
sister went home and waited a year: nothing happened.
She went again to Imana, who asked if she had not seen the
little creature he told her of. She answered, “ No.” He
said, “You saw it, but you would not touch it with your
hands." She still denied it, and he explained, telling her

1 JohiUlMD, AbUMlA;I, Jr, lt±,

4»

LEGENDS OF THE HIGH GODS

that she was not fit to be a mother and should have no
children.

Another story, in which Imana appears in a very human
aspect, will be given in the next chapter.

It has been suggested that Imana may be the same as
Kihanga, supposing this last name to be derived From
kuhang a (in some languages kapa»gii) t * to form, construct,
create.' But Kihanga is a different person, an ancient king
of Ruanda, who, legend says, was the first to introduce cattle
to that country. (Or, rather, it was his injured daughter
Nyiraruchaba who was responsible, but *' that’s another
story.”}

J mans must also be di Stingo ished from Kyang’ombe, who
is supposed to be the chief of the imandvea (ghosts). Ilia
proper place is among the heroes, and we shall come to his
legend later on, in Chapter VIII.

CHAPTER IV t THE HEAVEN COUNTRY
AND THE HEAVEN PEOPLE

T iHE Zulus appear to have recognised a sky-god dis¬
tinct from Unkulunkulu. This seems to strengthen
the probability that the name Unkulunkulu is not,
as Bledc thought, identical with Mulungu, since the latter
name for the High God in some languages actually means
1 sky.' " The king which is above,” Umpengula Mb an da
informed Dr Callaway, " we did not hear of him first from
white men. In summer-time, when it thunders, wc say,

‘ The king is playing/ And if there is one who is afraid
the elder people say to him, 1 It is nothing but fear. What
thing belonging to the king have you eaten?' 1 This is
why i say that the J-ord of whom we hear through you we
had already heard of before you came, But he IS not like
the Unkulunkulu, who, we say, made all things. But the
former we call a king, for, we say, he is above; Unkulunkulu
is beneath/' #

They seem, however, to have been somewhat hazy on the
subject, for another informant said that they were the same,
Unkulunkulu being " the creator of all things," who is in
heaven, though at hr$t he was on earth; but " he went up
to heaven afterwards.” This would connect with the Yao
legend, alluded to in our introductory chapter, that Mulungu
used to live on the earth, but afterwards ascended to the sky
by means of the spider's thread. The idea appears to be
tolerably widespread, and is found outside the Bantu area.
The Nandi myth of the Thunder leaving the earth and taking
up his abode in the sky (impelled by tne misconduct of the
ancestral Doruho) is perhaps an echo of it.

*Leza,* the name used for the High God by the Baila,
Batonga, and several other tribes of Northern Rhodesia and
the adjoining territories, 9 also, in one language at least, means

J l*t r , y&u mtttE bilfe CTitomil.eetl reme tin a^aijut him or y^u weald DjM be
■Irattf.

* Callaway. ./flJEynAr, p„ 15,

* Ahbtakmg with Mutung'u. by the Anyanja.

5 o

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

'rain.* "But," says J£. W. Smith, "it is not plain that they
regard rain and God as one and the same ” ; rather they speak
ofLeza as " the rain-giver," " the giver of thunder and much
rain," “ the one who does what no other can do.” So, too,
the Wachaga, who call their God ' Iruwa, 1 use the same word
for the sun, but insist that the sun in not the same thing as
God. Yet it is possible that in the beginning it really was
the material sun that was worshipped. A story, recorded
by Bruno Gutmann, 1 seems to point this way.

Thu Man who would shoot lruwi

A poor naan, living somewhere in the Chaga country,
on Kilimanjaro mountain, had a number of sons born to
him, but lost them all, one after another. He sac down in
his desolate house, brooding over his troubles, and at last
burst out in wild wrath: '* Who has been putting it into
Iruwa’s head to kill all my hoys?"'—a fairly literal rendering,
which suggests that he thought an enemy had done this.
(Iruwa would never have thought ol it on his own account.)
But if this is correct his conclusion is scarcely logical; yet
how many, in the bitterness of their hearts, would have tel:
much the same, even if they had cxprcssec i 1 1 differently I 1
will go and shoot an arrow at Iruwa," So he rose up and
went to the smith's forge, and got him to make some
iron arrow-heads. When they were ready he put them into
his quiver, took up his bow, and said, "* Slow 1 am going to
the farthest edge of the world, to the place where the sun
comes up. The very moment 1 see it I will loose this arrow
against it — tUhi) "’ imitating the sound of the arrow. So he
act out and walked, on and on, till he came to a wide meadow,
where he saw a gateway and many paths, some leading up
towards the sky, some downward to the earth. And he
stood still, waiting till the sun should rise, and keeping verj
quiet. After a while he heard a great noise, and the earth
seemed to shake with the trampling of many test, as it a
great procession were approaching. And he heard people
shouting one to another: ‘Quick! Quick I Open the gate

* VtJlibiicht p. I+4-

II &/

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

for the King to pass through 1 ” Presently he saw many men
coming towards him, all goodly to look on and shining like
fire. Then he was afraid, and hid himself in the bushes.
Again he heard these men crying: “ Clear the way where
the King is going to pass 1 ” They came on, a mighty host,
and all at once, in the midst of them, he was aware of the
Shining One, bright as flaming fire, and after him followed
another long procession. But suddenly those in front
stopped and began asking each other, “ What is this horrible
smell here, as if an earth-man had passed? ” They hunted
all about till they found the man, and seized him and
brought him before the King, who asked, “ Where do you
come from, and what brings you to us ? ” And the man
answered, “ Nay, my lord, it was nothing—only sorrow—
which drove me from home, so that I said to myself, let me
go and die in the bush.” Then said the King, “ But how
about your saying you wanted to shoot me ? Go on ! Shoot
away 1 ” The man said, “ O my lord, I dare not—not
now 1 ” “ What do you want of me? ” “ You know that
without my telling you, O chief! ” “ So you want me to

give you your children back ? ” The King pointed behind
him, saying, “ There they are. Take them home with you 1 ”
The man looked up and saw all his sons gathered in front
of him; but they were so beautiful and radiant that he
scarcely knew them, and he said, “ No, O chief, I cannot
take them now. They are yours, and you must keep them.”
So Iruwa told him to go home and look out carefully on the
way, for he should find something that would greatly please
him. And he should have other sons in place of those he
had lost.

And so it came to pass, for in due time other sons were
born to him, who all lived to grow up. And what he found
on the road was a great store of elephants’ tusks, so that
when his neighbours had helped him to carry them home he
was made rich for life.

One must not too hastily conclude that the man’s desire
for sons was only selfish, and that, so long as he had enough
to work for him and keep up his position in the tribe, he

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

did not cart whether they were the same ones he had lost
or not. But it is easy to understand that he did not feel
comfortable with these strange, bright beings, who, one
must remember, had died as small children, perhaps as
babies. It is a remarkable point that they should have been
found in the company of the sun-god; fur as a rule the
Bantu think of their dead as living underground. These
same Ch»ga people point out their mountain tarns as
entrances to the ghost world, and have many legends which
assume it to be below rather than above. As they have been
a good deal in touch with the Masai, and, indeed, to some
extent mixed with them, this idea may perhaps be derived
from an outside, probably a Hamitie, source. _ 1 hough the
Masai, apparently, concern themselves very little with the

spirit world. „ . .

Another Bantu-speaking tribe subjected to strong Hamitie
influence i* that of the Banyimanda, by Lake Kivu on the
confines of British and Belgian territory. Their royal family
and the dans composing the aristocracy are taller and lighter-
complexions! than the cultivators who form the bulk of the
imputation, and also markedly different in feature, t oug
thev have adopted the speech of the Bahutu, as they call the
indigenous peasants. The name of their High God, Imana,
is one I have been unable to trace beyond Ruanda- As we
saw in the last chapter, he certainly seems to be ™^ded
definitely as a person, and a beneficent as well as a jus i ,
if wc are to allow any weight to the legem, s.

Here is one recorded by Pete Hurd. 1

The Girls who wanted New Teeth M ■

A number of young girls agreed together to g° j n g
teeth created for them.* 8 But one of their companions was
unable to join the party. This girl a mother was dead, and

1 Lit Point tin: (n frimi/ifr, p. *7- . , RKin t h»t.

* Tbij, o h«»4i, Ub*uie, ■»w

hivlnu k-r their fini Wth, they £ £nd th- mvl W

prrn'Lire the irtoad K j bwl they "°" ld . []f ffla dt white uni

ft.r ih-it precr*. Or they may only h»' c w»teil their vx™

rtt". $3

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

she had a stepmother who kept her hard at work and other¬
wise made her life a burden^ so chat she had become a poor,
stunted drudge, ill-clothed and usually dirty. As for going
to ask for new teeth, this was quite out of the question* So
when her friends came back and showed her their beautiful
teeth she said nothing, bvit felt the more, and went on wich
her work. When the cows came home in the evening she
lit the fire in the kraal, so that the smoke might drive away
the mosquitoes, and then helped with the milking, 1 and when
that was done served the evening meal. After supper she
slipped away, took a bath, oiled herself, and started out
without anyone seeing her. Before nhe had gone very far
in the dark she met a hyena, who said to her, 41 You, maiden,
where are you going? p> She answered, Si Vm going where
all the other girls went. Father's wife would not let me go
with them, so I p m going by myself/* The hyena said, “ Go
on, then, child ol Imana 1 11 and let her go in peace. She
walked on, and after a while met a lion, who asked her the
same question. She answered him as she had done the
hyena, and he too said, " Go on, child of Imana 1 " She
walked on through the night, and just as dawn was breaking
she met Imana himself, looting like a great, old chief with
a kind face. He said to her, “ Little maid, where arc you
going? ” She answered, “ I have been living with my step¬
mother, and she always gives me so much to do that 1 could
nor get away when the other girls came to ask you for new
teeth, and so I came by myself.” And Imana said, *' You
shall have them,' 1 and gave her not only new teeth, hut a
new skin, and made her beautiful all over. And he gave her
new clothes and brass armlets and anklets and bead orna¬
ments, so that she looked quite a different girl, and then,
like a careful father, he saw her on her way home, till they
had come so near that she could point out her village. Then
he said, 41 When you get home whatever you do you must
not laugh or smile at anyone, your father or your stepmother
or anyone else/’ And’so he left her.

1 Thi» if CTapiiOrtll, as In most rank.keeping Einlu trills (be girf, jljx juktiy
feu-bidden io gt, near the Cildc. I be Heme* j» jt„j1 \* T Mention

5 +

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

When her stepmother saw her coming she did not at
first recognize her, but as soon as she realized who the girl
was she cried out, *' She's been stealing things at the chiefs
place 1 Where did she get those beads and those bangles?
She must have been driving off her father’s cows to sell
them. Look at that doth! Where did you get it?”
The girl did not answer. Her father asked her, Where
did you pick up these things?" — and still she did not
answer. After a while they let her alone. The step¬
mother's spiteful speeches did not impress the neighbours,
who soon got to know of the girl’s good fortune, and before
three days had passe;! a respectable man called on her
father to ask her in marriage for his son. The wedding
took place in the usual way, and she followed her young
husband to his home. There everything went well, but
they all — his mother and sisters and he himself—thought
it strange that they never saw her laugh.

After the usual time a little boy was barn, to the great
joy of his parents and grandparents. Again all went well,
till the child was four or five years old, when, according
to custom, he began to go out and herd the calves near the
hut. One day his grandmother, who had never been able
to satisfy her curiosity, said to him, " Next time your
mother gives you milk say you will not take it unless she
smiles at you. Tell her, it she does not smile you will
cry, and If she does not do so then you will die f ” He
did as she told him, but his mother would not smile; he
began to cry, and she paid no attention ; he went un
screaming, and presently died. They came and wrapped
his body in a mat, and carried it out Into the bush- -for the
Banyamanda do not bury their dead — and left it there. 1 he
poor mother mourned, but felt she could not help herself.
t»hc must not disobey imana’s commandment. After a time
another boy was bom. When he was old enough to talk
and run about his grandmother made the same suggestion
to him as she had done to his brother, and with the same
result. The boy died, and was carried out to the bush.
Again a baby was born — this time a bonny little girl-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

When she was about three years old her mother one
evening took her on her back and went out to the bush
where the two little bodies had been hid long ago. There,
in her great trouble, she cried to Imana, “ Tee, baba m/
O my Father! t) Imana, lord of Ruanda, I have never
once 'disobeyed you; will you not save this little one ? ”
She looked up/and, behold! there was Imana standing
before her, looking as kind as when she had first seen him,
nnd he said, “ Come here and see your children, I have
brought them back to life. You may smile at them now,"
And so she did, and they ran to her, crying, " Mother!
Mother 1" Then imana touched her poor, worn face and
eyes dimmed with crying and her bowed shoulders, and
she was young again, tall and straight and more hewutiful
than ever; the story says t “ He gave her a new body and
new teeth." He gave her a beautiful doth and beads, to
wear, and he sent his servants to fetch some cows, so many
for each of the boys. Then be went with them to their
home, The husband saw them coming, and could not
believe his eyesw—he was too much astonished to speak.
He brought out the one stool which every hut contains,
and offered it to the guest, but Imana would not sit down
yet. He said, '* Send out for four more stools.” So the
man sent and borrowed them from the neighbours, and
they all sat down, he and his wife and the two boys, .and
Imana in the place of honour. Then Imana said, *' Now
look at your wife and your children. You have got to
make them happy and live comfortably with them. You
will soon enough see her smiling at you and at them. It
was 1 who forbade her to laugh, and then some wicked
people went and set the children on to try to make her
do so, and they died. Now 1 have brought them back to
life. Here they are with their mother. Now* see that you
Jive happily together. And as for your mother, I am
going to burn her m her house, because she did a wicked
thing. 1 leave you to enjoy all her belongings, because
you have done no wrong.*’ Then he vanished from their
sight, and while they were still gazing in astonishment a

5 *

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

great black cloud gathered over the grandmother’s hut;
there was a dazzling flash, followed by a terrible dap of
thunder, and the hut, with every one and everything in it,
was burned to ashes. Before they had quite recovered
from the shock Imana once more appeared to them, in
blinding light, and said to the husband, 11 Remember my
words, and all shall be ■well with you! A moment later
he was gone.

The Thunder's Bride

In this story we find Imnna associated with thunder
and lightning, as the Zulu lord of Heaven and the Thonga
Tilo are, so that we may suppose him to be a sky-god, or,
at any rate, to have been such in the beginning. In the
Ruanda story which follows, 1 the Thunder is treated as a
distinct personage (as he is by the Nandi)) but he is nowhere
said to be identical with Imana, r

There was a certain woman of Ruanda, the wife or
Kwisaba. Her husband went away to the wars, and was
absen t for many months. One day while she was all alone
in the hut she was taken ill, and found herself too weak
and wretched to get up and make a fire, which would have
been done for her at once had anyone been present, bhe
cried out, talking wildly in her despair: Oh, what shal
I do ? If only I had some one to split the kindling wood
and build the fire 1 I shall die of cold it no one comes!
Oh, if some one would but come—if it were the very

Thunder of heaven himself I " , . . ■ ,

So the woman spoke, scarcely knowing what she said,
and presently a little cloud appeared hi the sky. She could
not ice it, but very soon it spread, other clouds collected,
till the sky was quite overcast; -t grew dark a* night ns.de
the hut, and ahe heard thunder rumb ing m the distance.
Then there came a flash of lightning dose by, ^ she saw
the Thunder standing before her, in the liken ■ - ■

with a little bright axe in hi$ hand. He f e]l tp, and
split all the wood in a twinkling; then he built it up and

* Pi« Hurd, Li* Till lit rkra til primiufu p. it.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

it, just with a touch of his hand, as if his fingers had been
torches. When the blaze leapt up he turned to the woman
and said, “ Now, O wife of Kwisaba, what will you give
me?” She was quite paralysed with fright, and could
not utter a word. He gave her a little time to recover,
and then went on: “ When your baby is born, if it is a
girl, will you give her to me for a wife ? ” Trembling all
over, the poor woman could only stammer out, “ Yes! ”
and the Thunder vanished.

Not long after this a baby girl was born, who grew into
a fine, healthy child, and was given the name of Miseke.
When Kwisaba came home from the wars the women met
him with the news that he had a little daughter, and he was
delighted, partly, perhaps, with the thought of the cattle
he would get as her bride-price when she was old enough
to be married. But when his wife told him about the
Thunder he looked very serious, and said, “ When she
grows older you must never on any account let her go
outside the house, or we shall have the Thunder carrying
her off.”

So as long as Miseke was quite little she was allowed to
play out of doors with the other children, but the time came
all too soon when she had to be shut up inside the hut.
One day some of the other girls came running to Miseke’s
mother in great excitement. “ Miseke is dropping beads
out of her mouth 1 We thought she had put them in on
purpose, but they come dropping out every time she
laughs.” Sure enough the mother found that it was so,
and not only did Miseke produce beads of the kinds most
valued, but beautiful brass and copper bangles. Miseke’s
father was greatly troubled when they told him of this.
He said it must be the Thunder, who sent the beads in
this extraordinary way as the presents which a man always
has to send to his betrothed while she is growing up. 1 So
Miseke had always to stay indoors and amuse herself as
best she could—when she was not helping in the house-

1 It is not uncommon in some African tribes for a grown man to bespeak a girl,
for himself or for his son, while she is still a baby.

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

work—by plaiting mats and making baskets. Sometimes
her old playfellows came to see her, but they too did not
care to be shut up for long in a dark, study hut.

One day, when Misckc was about fifteen, a number of
the girls made up a party to go and dig inkvm, 1 and they
thought it would be good fun to take Miseke along with
them. They went to her mother's hut and called her,
but of course her parents would not hear of her going, anti
she had to stay at home. They tried again another day,
but with no better success. Some time after this, however,
Kwisaba and his wife both went to see to their garden,
which was situated a long way off, so that they had to start
at daybreak, leaving Miseke alone in the hut. Somehow
the girts got to hear of this, and as they had already planned
fn go for initoa that day they went to fetch her. The
temptation was too great, and she slipped out very quietly,
and went with them to the watercourse where the white
clay was to be found* So many people had gone there at
different times for the same purpose that quite a large pit
had been dug out. The girls got into it and fell to work,
laughing and chattering, when, suddenly, they became
aware that it was growing dark, and, looking up, saw a
great black cloud gathering overhead. And then, suddenly,
they saw the figure of a man standing before them, and he
called out in a great voice, " Where is Miseke, daughter of
Kvmaba? *’ One girl came out of the hole, and said, " I
am not Misckc, daughter of Kwisaba. When Miseke
laughs beads and bangles drop from her lips.” The
Thunder said, “ Well, then, laugh, and let me see. She
laughed, and nothing happened. “ No, I see you are not
she. 1 ’ So one after another was questioned and sent on
her way. Miseke herself came last, and tried to pass,
repeating the same words that the others had said; but
the Thunder insisted On her laughing, and a shower of
beads fell on the ground. The Thunder caught her up
and carried her off to the sky and married her.

Of course she was terribly frightened, but the Thunder

1 White day, Uted for puming potr, -bkh u found is dry iura*n-Wi.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

proved a kind husband, and she settled down quite happily
and, in due time, had three children, two boys and a girl.
When the baby girl was a few weeks old Miscke told her
husband that she would like to go home and »c c her parents.
He not only consented, but provided her with cattle and
beer (as provision for the journey and presents on arrival)
and carriers for her hammock, and sent her down to earth
with this parting advice: “ Keep to the high road ; do not
turn aside into any unfrequented bypath." But, being
unacquainted with the country, her carriers soon strayed
from the main track. After they had gone for some
distance along the wrong road they found the path barred
by H strange monster called an igihic, a sort of ogre, who
demanded something to eat. Miscke told the servants to
give him the beer they were carrying: he drank all the
pots dry in no time. 1 hen he seized one of the carriers
and ate him, then a second — in short, he devoured them
all, as well as the cattle, till no one was left but Miscke and
her children. The ogre then demanded a child. Seeing
no help for it, Miseke gave him the younger boy, and then,
driven to extremity, the baby she was nursing, but while
he was thus engaged she contrived to send off the elder
boy, whispering to him to run till he came to a housed
“ If you see an old man sitting on the ash-heap in the front
yard rhat will be your grandfather; if you see some young
men shooting arrows at a mark they will be your uncles;
the boys herding the cows are your cousins; and you will
find your grandmother inside the hut. 'Fell them to come
and help us,” The boy set off, while his mother kept off
the ogre as best she could. lie arrived at his grand fa the rs
homestead, and told them what had happened, and they
started at once, having first tied the bells on their hunting-
dogs. The boy showed them the way os well as he could,

1 ThEl m.Lg'ht »cifl like a mntraditliDfl if the turning fuidr had really tnctfPf
£oing far UUtf. B,lt Mwkr utu in familiar country f t!*= bypath into whkh
lirt men hid turned wai mi sd far fr&m the right road,though ihunned on
dtcmtnr of tk trwMKf vbich haunted. Li. Bclnp EMorccned froEB ihd tun In her
haitimockf or f rather, tarryihr WFiuld oat hive iftn them ufce Lbfi
wrong 1 s ur i ii n.£ In lime to direct thtifn.

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

but they nearly missed Mlsekcjust at last; only she heard
the dogs' bells and called out. Then the young men
rushed in and killed the ogre with their spears. Before
he died he said, *' If you cut off my big toe you will get
hack everything belonging to you,” They did so, and,
behold! out came the carriers and the cattle, the servants
and the children, none of them any the worse. Then, first
making sure that the ogre was really dead, they set off for
Misekc’s old home, Her parents were overjoyed to see
her and the children, and the time passed all too quickly.
At the end of a month she began to think she ought to
return, and the old people sent out for cattle and all sorts
of presents, as is the Custom when a guest is going to leave.
Everything was got together outside the village, and her
brothers were ready to escort her, when they saw the clouds
gathering, and, behold! all of a sudden Miackfc, her children,
her servants, her Cattle, and her porters, with their loads,
were all caught up into the air and disappeared. The
family were struck dumb with amazement, and they never
saw Miseke on earth again. It is to be presumed that
she lived happily ever after.

Climbing into Heaven

All primitive peoples, quite naturally, think of the sky
us a sol it! vault, which joins the earth at the horizon—the
place where, as the Thonga people say, the women cun
hit it with their pestles. Only no one now living has ever
been able to reach that place. And even the tales about
people who have got into the Heaven country do not
represent them as having reached it in that way. Either
they climh a tree, or they ascend by means of a rope, 1
or the spider obliging!)' spins a thread for them. The
Zulus had an old saying: " Who can plait a rope for
ascending, that he may go to heaven implying that
such a thing is utterly impossible. Yet in the “ Praises ’

1 I have ncTCT KtQ it cxpW nrcl liow the rope geti IBlJO ptfAstiDEL

* Ub*m MpMf* igodii hkmhtptdn apf nAms f

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

{Izihngo) of King 5erv*angakona 3 the father of Tshaka*
he is said to have accomplished this feat.

The ion of Jima the img P he twisted a mtd ;

Foxiest he scaled the tmtrttkm nt Hcivcn'i Jord p
WJihk over tbb tirili of min the btuc vault hollowed.

And die ghfMti of the house of Migebfl fain would fmvc followed*

But never will the/ uttiiti,

Though they strive Again and .tg-i in

For she- pjs* ftajc umnrar be won by spejr or by sword—

No hold for the wounded feet that bleed in too * 1

No one appears to know anything more about this adven¬
ture of SenzanpkomVs. It is not said that he returned
from his expedition, and, as tradition states that he died a
natural death, it would not seem to refer to his departure
from this world.

The Road to Heaven

The Baronga (in the neighbourhood of Dekgoa Bay) have
a very old song* which runs something like this:

Oh. hmv Kurd it is i a End a cord 1
How I would Jove to pkh a cord and go up ts die iky i
I would End rest!

The Ronga story of a mortal who found the way there
is as follows. There was once a girl who was sent by her
mother to fetch water from the river. On the way, talking
and laughing with her companions* she dropped her earthen
jar and broke ir. 11 Oh, whit shall I do now? TP she cried* in
great distress, for these large jars are not so easily replaced,
and she knew there would be trouble awaiting her on her
return. She exclaimed, 11 Bitkctfi kv*i ttgoii / Oh, that I had
a ropel Pl and, looking up, sure enough she saw a rope un¬
coiling Itself from a cloud. She seized It and climbed, and

1 A very fiTT [l^rapW of

Jtftl+i Jrf 1 7*vna t /qW+t lava tejiia tzukvitti

Ljfd izJtitin Mdgvotbii Zixgtyihtfila,

Zobd 'llIJ foitfLl Tlipuli amasnilMJ lUll.

T>s fciidrnnjf of the In* two words is “ that Lbcy nay break ihiir little

|KJ01. +fc

Vraw * nirtihr: MAizr^cnw fjct:. thi Drain-si rjitr

■* lW - r^C^-CrtBlw. flj? «F Fbr jfe£W

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

soon found herself in the country above the sky, which
appeared to be not unlike the one she had left. There was
what looked like a ruined village not far off, and an old
woman sitting among the ruins called to her, “ Come here,
child ! Where are you going ? ” Being well brought up
and accustomed to treat her elders with politeness, she
answered at once, and told her story. The old woman told
her to go on, and if she found an ant creeping into her ear
to let it alone. “ It will not hurt you, and will tell you what
you have to do in this strange country, and how to answer
the chiefs when they question you.”

The girl walked on, and in a little while found a black
ant crawling up her leg, which went on till it reached her
ear. She checked the instinctive impulse to take it out, and
went on till she saw the pointed roofs of a village, surrounded
by the usual thorn hedge. As she drew near she heard a
tiny whisper: “Do not go in; sit down here. She sat
down near the gateway. Presently some grave old men,
dressed in white, shining bark-cloth, came out and asked
her where she had come from and what she wanted. She
answered modestly and respectfully, and told them she had
come to look for a baby . 1 The elders said, ‘‘Very good;
come this way.” They took her to a hut where some women
were at work. One of them gave her a shirondo 3 basket, and
told her to go to the garden and get some of the new season s
mealies. She showed no surprise at this unexpected request,
but obeyed at once, and (following the directions of the ant

» This seems to need explanation. Nothing, so far, has been said ab °“*

I was tempted to think that the narrator might have forgotten the «al beP nn *"g

of the story, which was that the girl had been "Trying her baby brother on ter

back and dropped him into the water when stooping to (ill her jar. But M. Juno

(from whose b£k Chants et conus d'S Baronga, p. *37, this TO\

no, hear of this suggestion when I asked him. I cannot help thmkmg.that this

version is a confusion of two different stories, one of a girl breaking: ajar>r, as

in a Chaga tale, letting the monkeys get into the bean-patch). andanotherof

a married woman who was tricked into drowning ter a ) ’ 1 .

it back from the lord of Heaven. This is given in Duff Macdonald , Afncana,

V °* A round basket with sloping sides, used chiefly for carrying .ijealies There
is quite an art in filling these baskets so as to make them hold the largest posstble
quantity; great nicety of arrangement is required. ^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

in her ear) pulled up only one stalk at a time, and arranged
the cobs carefully in the basket, so as not to waste any space.
When she returned the women praised her for performing
her task so quickly and well, and then told her first to grind
the corn and then to make porridge. Again instructed by
the ant, she put aside a few grains before grinding, and,
when she was stirring the porridge, threw these grains in
whole, which, it seems, is a peculiar fashion in the cooking
of the Heaven-dwellers. They were quite satisfied with the
way in which the girl had done her work, and gave her a
place to sleep in. Next morning the elders came to fetch
her, and conducted her to a handsome house, within which
a number of infants were laid out on the ground, those on
one side wrapped in red cloth, on the other in white. Being
told to choose, she was about to pick up one of the red
bundles, when the ant whispered, “ Take a white one,” and
she did so. The old men gave her a quantity of fine cloth
and beads, as much as she could carry in addition to the
baby, and sent her on her way home. She reached her village
without difficulty, and found that every one was out, as her
mother and the other women were at work in the gardens.
She went into the hut, and hid herself and the baby in the
inner enclosure. When the others returned from the fields,
towards evening, the mother sent her younger daughter on
ahead to put on the cooking-pots. The girl went in and
stirred the fire; as the flames leapt up she saw the treasures
her sister had brought home, and, not knowing how they
had come there, she was frightened, and ran back to tell her
mother and aunts. They all hurried in, and found the girl
they had thought lost, with a beautiful baby and a stock of
cloth to last a lifetime. They listened to her story in great
astonishment; but the younger sister was seized with envy,
and wanted to set off at once for that fortunate spot. She
was a rude, wilful creature, and her sister, knowing her
character, tried to dissuade her, or, at any rate, to give her
some guidance for the road. But she refused to listen.
“ You went off without being told anything by anybody,
and I shall go without listening to anyone’s advice.”

THE HEAVEN COUNTRY

Accordingly when called by the old woman she refused
to stop, and even spoke insultingly; whereupon the crone
said, * Go on, then 1 When you return this way you will
be dead I ” “ Who will kill me, then ? ” retorted the girl,
and went on her way. When the ant tried to get into her
ear she shook her head and screamed with impatience, re¬
fusing to listen when it tried to persuade her. So the ant
took itself off in dudgeon.

In the same way she gave a rude answer to the village
elders when they asked her why she had come, and when
requested to gather mealies she pulled up the stalks right
and left, and simply ravaged the garden. Having refused
to profit by the ant’s warnings, she did not know the right
way to prepare the meal or make the porridge, and, in any
case, did the work carelessly. When taken to the house
where the babies were stored she at once stretched out her
hand to seize a red-wrapped one; but immediately there
was a tremendous explosion, and she was struck dead.

“ Heaven,” we are told, gathered up her bones, made them
into a bundle, and sent a man with them to her home. As
he passed the place where she had met with the ant that
insect called out, “ Are you not coming back dead ? You
would be alive now if you had listened to advice l ” Coming
to the old woman’s place among the ruins, the carrier heard
her cry, “ My daughter, haven’t you died on account of your
wicked heart ? ” So the man went on, and at last he dropped
the bones just above her mother’s hut. And her sister said,

“ She had a wicked heart, and that is why Heaven was angry
with her.”

There are points here which remind us of a familiar story
in Grimm’s fairy-tales, and we shall meet with others still
more like it later on. There are other stories of people who
ascended to the Heaven country, some of which will be
given in the next chapter.

CHAPTER V: MORTALS WHO HAVE
ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

I N the instances hitherto mentioned, where a rope has been
spoken of as the means of reaching the Heaven country,
no explanation is offered as to the origin of the rope, or
the means by which it became available. There are some
stories and legends, possibly older, where the communica¬
tion is said to be established through the spider’s web.
When Mulungu was compelled to leave the earth, say the
Yaos, “ he said, * I cannot climb a tree ’ ” (as though that
were the obvious way of reaching the sky), and went to call
the spider, who “ went on high, and returned again and
said,‘I have gone on high nicely. . . . You now, Mulungu,
go on high.’ ” That is, we may suppose, he spun his web
(the narrator probably did not see why the spider should not
be able to do this upward as well as downward) till it reached
the sky, and spun another thread coming down. The Subiya
also say that Leza ascended to heaven by a spider’s thread.

This notion occurs in a tale 1 of, in some respects, much
later development. It comes, like those about Kalunga
already given, from Angola, and relates to the son of
Kimanaweze.” Kimanaweze seems to be a mythical per¬
sonage, perhaps originally identical with the first man, as,
according to Hdi Chatelain, “much of what the natives say
of him corresponds with what the Amazulu tell of their
Unkulunkulu.” He figures in more than one folk-tale.
The one I am about to give is further remarkable, not merely
for personifying the Sun (which, to a certain extent, is done
by the Wachaga), but for giving him the Moon as a wife.
The Bantu in general speak of the Moon as a man, and say
that he has two wives, the Evening Star and the Morning
Star, which they do not realize to be one and the same.

The Daughter of the Sun and Moon

Kimanaweze’s son, when the time came for him to choose
a wife, declared that he would not “ marry a woman of the

1 Chatelain, Folk-tales of Angola, p. ji.

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

earth," bur must have the daughter of the Sun and Moon.
He wrote " a letter of marriage "—a modern touch, no
doubt added by the narrator 1 —and cast about fora messenge r
to take it up to the sky. The little duiker (mhambs) refused,
so did the larger antelope, known as sel to, the hawk, and the
vulture. At last a fmg came and offered to carry the letter.
The son of Kimanawezc, doubtful of his ability to do this,
said, " Begone 1 Where people of life, who have wings, gave
it Up dost thou say, ‘I will go there '? ** But the frog
persisted, and was at last sent off, with the threat of a thrash¬
ing if he should be unsuccessful. It appears that the Sun
and Moon were in the habit of sending their hand ma idens
down to the earth to draw water, descending and ascending
by means of a spider's web. The frog went and hid himself
in the well to which they came, and when the first one filled
her jar he got into it without being seen, having first placed
the letter in his mouth. The girls went up to heaven, carried
their water-jars into the room, and set them down. When
they had gone away he came out, produced the letter, laid
it on a table, and hid.

After a while “ Lord Sun " (Kumbi Mwens) came in,
found the letter, and read it. Not knowing what to make
of it, lie put it away, and said nothing about it. The frog
got into an empty water-jar, and was carried down again
when the girls went fora fresh supply. The son of Kimana-
weze, getting no answer, refused at first to believe that the
frog had executed his commission; but, after waiting for
some days, he wrote another letter and sent him again. The
frog carried it in the same way as before, and the Sun, after
reading It, wrote that he would consent, if the suitor came
himself, bringing his 'first-present 1 —the usual gift for
opening marriage negotiations. On receiving this the young
man wrote another letter, saying that he must wait till told
the amount of the ‘ wppbig-present,’ or bride-price (Jti/emim),
He gave this to the frog, along with a sum of money, and it
was conveyed as before. This time the Sun consulted his wife,
who was quite ready to welcome the mysterious son-in-law.

1 We often Had itorici brcugbr up to dite in this wiy.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

She solved the question of providing refreshments for
the invisible messenger by saying, “ We will cook a meal
anyhow, and put it on the table where he leaves the letters.”
This was done, and the frog, when left alone, came out and
ate. The letter, which was left along with the food, stated
the amount of the bride-price to be “ a sack of money.
He carried the letter back to the son of Kimanaweze, who
spent six days in collecting the necessary amount, and then
sent it by the frog with this message: “ Soon I shall find a
day to bring home my wife.” This, however, was more
easily said than done, for when his messenger had once more
returned he waited twelve days, and then told the frog that
he could not find people to fetch the bride. But the frog
was equal to the occasion. Again he had himself carried up
to the Sun’s palace, and, getting out of the water-jar, hid
in a corner of the room till after dark, when he came out and
went through the house till he found the princess’s bed¬
chamber. Seeing that she was fast asleep, he took out one of
her eyes without waking her, and then the other. 1 He tied
up the eyes in a handkerchief, and went back to his corner
in the room where the water-jars were kept. In the morning,
when the girl did not appear, her parents came to inquire
the reason, and found that she was blind. In their distress
they sent two men to consult the diviner, who, after casting
lots, said (not having heard from them the reason of their
coming), “ Disease has brought you; the one who is sick
is a woman ; the sickness that ails her the eyes. You have
come, being sent; you have not come of your own will.
I have spoken.” The Sun’s messengers replied, “ Truth.
Look now what caused the ailment.” He told them that a
certain suitor had cast a spell over her, and she would die
unless she were sent to him. Therefore they had best hasten
on the marriage. The men brought back word to the Sun,
who said, “All right. Let us sleep. To-morrow they shall
take her down to the earth.” Next day, accordingly, he
gave orders for the spider to “weave a large cobweb” for
sending his daughter down. Meanwhile the frog had gone

1 The frog’s magic powers are implied, if not explicitly stated.

VAHV UnWK* 1% C~FW9VM WlDN
.VaJiif Afi.um, 1 'irfrTM^PiE: Nnf

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

down as usual in the water-jar and hidden himself in the
bottom of the well. When the water-carriers had gone up
again he came out and went to the village of the bridegroom
and told him that his bride would arrive that day. The
young man would not believe him, but he solemnly promised
to bring her in the evening, and returned to the well.

After sunset the attendants brought the princess down by
way of the stronger cobweb and left her by the well. The
frog came out, and told her that he would take her to her
husband’s house; at the same time he handed back her eyes.
They started, and came to the son of Kimanaweze, and the
marriage took place. And they lived happy ever after—on
earth, for, as the narrator said, “ They had all given up
going to heaven ; who could do it was Mainu the frog.’

In its present form, as will have been noticed, this story
is strongly coloured by Portuguese influence. The water-
carriers, the Sun’s house, with its rooms and furniture, the
bag of money, all belong to present-day Loanda. But, for
all that, the groundwork is essentially African. The frog
and the diviner would, by themselves, be sufficient to prove
this. (The frog, by the way, is usually a helpful creature in
African folklore.) The glaring improbabilities in the story
must not be regarded too critically; it is constantly taken
for granted, as we shall find when considering the animal
stories proper, that any animal may speak and act like a
human being—though the frog, in this instance, seems to
possess more than ordinary human powers. The specially
strong cobweb prepared for the daughter s descent, while the
water-carriers had been going up and down every day without
difficulty, may have been necessitated by the number of the
bride’s attendants; but we are not told why they shoulti have
returned and left her alone at the foot of the heavenly ladder. 1

» The people of the Lower Congo have a story about the spider fetching fire
from heaven at the request of Nzambi, who is here regarded as the Earth-mother
and the daughter (according to R. E. Dennett) of i zam i . pungu, . e
father.” or the pereonified sky. (Other authorities insist ‘hat everywhere in Afina
the relation of skyand earth is that of husband and wife.) He was helped bythe
tortoise, the woodpecker, the rat, and the sandfly, whom he conveyed upbyrneansof
his thread. The story may be found in Dennett, Foli-lore of the Fjort [F/o/e], P-^74-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Jn other eases we find people reaching the Heaven
country by climbing a tree* as ts done by the mother in the
Yao taie of “ The Three Women.” In the Zulu story ] of
“ The Girl and the Cannibals PT a brother and sister* escapi ng
from these ogres* climb a tree and reach the Heaven country.

The Heaven-tree

And there is a curious tradition among ehe Wachaga 2
about a mysterious tree. A girl named Kkhalundu went
out one day to cut grass. Finding it growing very luxuri¬
antly in a certain piace^ she stepped on the spot and sank
into a. quagmire. Her companions took hold of her hands
and tried to puli her out, but in vain ; she vanished from
thetr sight. They heard her singings " The ghosts have taken
rnc. Chi and tdl my father and mother/ 1 and they ran to
call the parents. The whole countryside gathered about the
place* and a diviner advised the father to sacrifice a cow and
a sheep. This was done* and they heard the girl’s voice
again* but growing fainter and fainter* till at last it was silent,
and they gave her up for lost But after a time a tree grew
up on the spot where she had disappeared. It went on
growing, until at last it reached the sky. The herd-boys*
during the heat of the day, used to drive their cattle into
its shade, and themselves climbed up into the spreading
branches* One day two of them ventured higher than the
rest* and called out, 11 Can you see us still? 11 The others
answered, 11 No J Do come down again [ wt but the two
daring fellows refused. 41 We are going on into the sky—
to W\uhtij the World Above I ** Those were their last words,
for they were never seen again. And the tree was called
Mdi Mjumiij *' the Story-tree.”

The Tale of Murile

From the same region of Kilimanjaro comes the story of
Mu rile, who also reached the Upper World* though neither
by a rope nor a tree* and also came back?

1 CliLiway p A'tn/f)- 7Wrr p pp. 14; and t-i}. 1 (julinjnrt, P%£JtftmcA M p+ r 51-

1 Rauin, FfriucAj p, 307,

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

A man ami his wife living in the Chaga country had three
sons, of whom Murile was the eldest* One day he went
out with his mother to dig up madttma? and, noticing a
particularly fine tuber among those which were to be
put by for seed, he said, tr Why, this one is as beautiful as
my little brother I ” His mother laughed at the notion of
comparing a taro tuber with a baby; but he hid the root,
and, later, when no one was looking, put it away in a
hollow tree and sang a magic song over it. Next clay he
went to look, and found that the root had turned into a child.
After that at every meal he secretly kept back some food,
and, when he could do so without being seen, carried it to
the tree and fed the baby, which grew and flourished from
day to day. But M urilc’s mother became very anxious w hen
she saw how thin the boy was growing, and she questioned
him, but could get no satisfaction. Then one day his
younger brothers noticed that when his portion of food was
handed to him, instead of eating it at once, he put it aside,
They told their mother, and she bade them follow him when
he went away after dinner, and see what he did with it.
They did so, and saw him feeding the baby in the hollow
tree, and came back and told her. She went at once to the
spot and strangled the child which was starving her son,”
When Murtle came back next dav and found the child
dead he was overcome with grief. He went home and sat
down In the hut, crying bitterly. His mother asked him
why he was crying, and he said it was because the smoke
hurt hts eyes. So she told him to go and sit on the other
side of the fireplace. But, as he still wept and complained
of the smoke when questioned, they said he had better take
his father's stool and sit outside. He picked up the stool,
went out into the courtyard, and sat down. Then he said,
u Stool, go up on high, as my father's rope does when he
hangs up his beehive in the forest I ” * And the stool rose

1 A kind of :iruni the rood of which ur used as food by the Wfcduifil i

ihc tat* of PnlycKT?;^

* Ik wmi]4 throw nne end of a rope up i& II to pii* evw a branch fc and ijwri
fatten h Hii the beehive which would I hen be hluird up intu pkffi. Tk« him
£ma4e from the halfu'wcd icction of n Iw^:} me placed ifi tiwi by mmy East African

7 *

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

up with him into the air and stuck fast in the branches of
a tree. He repeated the words a second time, and again the
stool moved upward. Just then his brothers happened to
come out of the hut, and when they saw him they ran back
and said to their mother, “ Murile is going up into the
sky! ” She would not believe them. “ Why do you tell
me your eldest brother has gone up into the sky? Is there
any road for him to go up by? ” They told her to come
and look, and when she saw him in the air she sang:

“ Mrile, tcuya na kunu!

IVuya na kunu, mwanako!

IVuya na kunu ! ”

[“ Murile, come back hither!

Come back hither, my child !

Come back hither! ”J

But Murile answered, “ I shall never come back, Mother!

I shall never come back I ”

Then his brothers called him, and received the same
answer; his father called him—then his boy-friends, and,
last of all, his uncle ( washidu , his mother’s brother, the
nearest relation of all). They could just hear his answer,

“ I am not coming back, Uncle 1 I am never coming back 1 ”
Then he passed up out of sight.

The stool carried him up till he felt solid ground beneath
his feet, and then he looked round and found himself in the
Heaven country. He walked on till he came to some people
gathering wood. He asked them the way to the Moon-
chiefs kraal, and they said, “Just pick up some sticks for
us, and then we will tell you.” He collected a bundle of
sticks, and they directed him to go on till he should come
to some people cutting grass. He did so, and greeted the
grass-cutters when he came to them. They answered his
greeting, and when he asked them the way said they would
show him if he would help them for a while with their work.

tribes and left till full of honey, when the bees are smoked out, escaping through
a hole made for the purpose in the back of the hive. The Zulus and other South
African Bantu appear to content themselves with taking the honey found in hollow
trees or holes in the rock, where the wild bees make their nests.

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

So he cut some grass, and they pointed out the road, telling
him to go on till he came to some women hoeing. These,
again, asked him to help them before they would show him
the way, and, in succession, he met with some herd-hoys,
some women gathering beans, some people reaping millet,
others gathering ban an a-1 eaves, and girls fetching water—
all of them sending him forward with almost the same words.
The water-carriers said, " Just go on in this direction till
you come to a house where the people arc eating.*’ He
found the house, and said, “ Greeting, housc-OWners I Please
show me the way to the Moon's kraal." They promised to
do so If he would sit down and eat with them, which he did.
At last by following their instructions he reached his destina¬
tion, and found the people there eating their food raw. He
asked them why they did not use fire to cook with, and fnurnj
that they did not know what fire was. So he satd, “If I
prepare nice food for you by means of fire what will you
give me ? ” The Moon-chief said, “ We will give you cattle
and goats and sheep.” Murile told them to bring plenty
of wood, and when they came with it he and the chief went
behind the house, where the other people could not sec them.
Murile took his knife and cut two pieces of wood, one fiat
and the other pointed, and twirled die pointed stick till lie
got some sparks, with which he lit a bunch of dry grass and
so kindled a fire. When it burned up he got the chief to
send for some green plantains, which he masted and offered
to him. Then hi: cooked some meat and various other foods.
The Moon-chief was delighted when he tasted them, and
at once called all the people together, and said to diem,
"Here is a wonderful doctor come from a far country!
We sha N have to repay him for h is fire." The people asked,

” What must be paid to him? ” He answered, 1 Lot one
man bring a cow, another a goat, another whatever he may
have in his storehouse." So they went to fetch all these
things. And Murile became a rich man, For he stayed
some years at the Moon’s great kraal and married wives and
had children born to him, and his flocks and herds increased
greatly. Fki t i n th e end a long i n g for his home ca me over him.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

And he thought within himself f " How shall I go home again,
unless I send a messenger before me? For I told them I was
never coming bach, and they must think that I am dead."

He called all the birds together and asked them one by
one," IF I send you to nay home what will you say? ” The
raven answered, “I shall say, KuruuJ kurua!" and was
rejected. So, in turn, were ihc hornbill, the hawk, [he
buzzard, ami all the rest, till he came to Njorovi, the
mocking-bird, who sang:

“ Mn/i h/ii/iitm

Tim

A fri/t tisAi i Mlafe&w

Mdeyt mafuda tta kUifo I "

[ M M tirile Is coming ihc day afitr tomorrow,

Mining out tomorrow.

Mu rile h coming die day after lo-wmvw.

Keep some fat In the todle for him \ ”]

Murile was pleased with this, and told her to go. So she
flew down to earth and perched on the gate-post of his
father's courtyard and sang her song. His father came out
and said, 41 What thing is crying out there, saying that Murile
is coming the day after to-morrow ? Why, Murile was tost
long ago, and will never come back 1 11 And he drove the
bird away. She flew back and told Murile where she had
been. But he would not believe her; he told her to go
again and bring back his father's stick as a token that she
had really gone to his home. So she flew down again, came
to the house, and picked up the stick* which was leaning in
the doorway. The children in the house saw her, and tried
to snatch It from her, but she was too quick for them, and
took it back to Murile. Then he said, 11 Now I will start
for home/' He took leave of has friends and of ht$ wives,
who were to stay with their own people, but his cattle and
his boys came with him. It was a long march to thcjplace
of descent/ and Murile began to grow very tired. There

* W c a/c noi toM (be cattle were » be goi down, btic probably they had to
£o down the ifopr where the »Vy joins the earth it the horizon, which would
■lFLYrum fir# the journey beiJlff longer [JiAn Murila'j when he rim * up by ni—Hi
nf lbs Mwl 1

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

was a very fine bull in the herd, who walked beside Murilc
all the way. Suddenly he spoke and said, '* As you are so
weary, what will you do for me if I let you ride me? If
I take you on my back will you eat my flesh when they kill
me? " Murilc answered, '^No ! I will never cat you 1 "
So the bull let him get on his back and carried him home.
And Murilc sang, as he rode along:

11 Not ft liyof nor i km it wanting !

Mine arc the cattle —hey I
Nought fit the good* is wauling;

Mine i it the haims to^ay.

Not ft kM of the g ua ls u wanting;

My ifoclis arc on the way.

Nothing i>f mine h wonting ;

Muniti tomcii icwfjy
With his bairns and his cattle—hey I T|

So he came home. And his father and mother ran out
to meet him and anointed him with mutton-fat, as is the
custom when a loved one comes home from distant parts.
AmJ his brothers and every one rejoiced and wondered
greatly when they saw the cattle. But he showed his father
the great bull that had carried him, and said, *' This bull
must be fed and cared for till he is old. And even if you
kill him when he is old I will never eat of his flesh.'” So
they lived quite happily for a time.

But when the bull had become very old Murile’s father
slaughtered him. The mother foolishly thought it such a
pity that her son, who had always taken so much trouble
over die beast, should have none of the beef when every one
else was eating it. So she took a piece of fat and hid it in
a pot. When she knew that all the meat was finished she
ground some grain and cooked the fat with the meal and
gave it to her son. As soon as he had tasted it the fat spoke
and said to him, “ Do you dare to eat me, who carried you
on my back ? You shall be eaten, as you are eating me I ”
Then Murilc sang: “ O my mother, I said to you, ‘ Do
not give me to eat of the bull's flesh I ’ ” H e took a second
taste, and his foot sank into the ground. He sang the same

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

words again, anti then ate up the food his mother had given
him + As soon as he had swallowed it ho sank down and

d 'cSCeJ 1 people who tell the story simply say, " He died."
11 c that as it may, that was the end of him.

The inhabitants of the Moon country, according to this
legend, were very much like the earth-dwelters, except that
they seem to have been less advanced in culture, having no
knowledge of cooking or of fire. 1 have not come across
any other reference to the Moon-chief, or hi* kraal, though,
as already stated, the Bantu in general, when they think
about the matter at all, describe the Moon as a man, like the
Arabs and our Saxon forefathers. 1 In Nyasaland they give
names to the Moon’s two wives: the Evening Star ts
Chekechani, a poor housekeeper, who, during the tort night
he spends with her, starves him till he pines away to nothing.
Puikani, the Morning Star, brings him back to life, 1 and
feeds him up till he becomes quite round at the end of the
month. The Giryama, in Kenya, call the planet Venus 1 the
Moon's wife,” but no one seems to have recorded any story
connected with this expression.

Tailed Heaven-folk

The Rongft notion, too, as we have seen, appears to be
that the dwellers above the sky are not very different from
those beneath it. Hut we find here and there (so f&r only
in detached fragments) traces of belief in a race of Heaven-*
dwellers distinctftw ordinary mortals. For instance, they
are sometimes said to have tails. One clan of the \V achaga
claims that us ancestor fell from the sky during a rainstorm.
He belonged to a race called the Wakyambi, living in the
sky, 14 far above the sun, 11 and haying tails. This ancestor,
finding himself among tailless beings, and feeling ashamed
of his peculiar appearance! secretly cut off his tail; conse¬
quently his descendants have none- Another legend says

1 T|w Wild, In Part {Hinb-cue of jGKmiitfwo), are u exception i they «y
thM the iiin i* the father and the moon ibc mother of man fc fo d*

1 Al rvr* nuxin Qwf iiy t tiKtifld “ the muon ta dead."

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

that once upon a time a man and a woman came down from
the sky on a cloud and lighted im the hill Molaim, in
Machamc. In the morning the inhabitants of the place
found them standing there, anti saw that they had tails like
cows. When asked where they came From they answered,
11 God has sent us down on a cloud. We arc looking for a
place to live in.*' The people replied, 41 If you want to live
with us you must have your tails cut off.” They Consented,
and settled in that place, whither their descendants still
conn: to sacrifice. It is said that cattle were sent down to
them from the sky; they found them standing in front of
their hut on the second morning.

The Wasu, the neighbours or the Wat hag a on the south¬
east, speak of certain tailed beings inhabiting the clouds.
Their nature is not very dear, but they are said to he always
at war with the 14 good old people ”■—the ghosts of the
human dead. ” Sometimes,'’ says a missionary long resident
In Pare, 1 41 they are held to be kind spirits who give people
cattle, sometimes evil beings who bring disaster.” Jr would
probably be nearer the mark to say that, like ordinary human
ghosts, they are beneficent or the reverse, according to their
state of mind and the behaviour of the Jiving.

Some of the Congo tribes, also, believe in the existence
of ‘ Cloud folk 1 having tails. It is probable that if we could
get at the folklore of all the tribes intervening between these
two widely separated localities we should find the same
notion everywhere. Outside the Bantu area the Lang’o, in
the region of the Upper Nile (who, like the Wachaga, say
that the first human pair had tails), and the Ewe, in West
Africa, have traditions to the same effect, and something mu
very different comes out in the folk-tales of the Masai.

Whether, as one writer has suggested, these myths imply
some dim racc*memory of an ape ancestry our knowledge
is not sufficient to decide; the general trend of Bantu
thought (as shown in stories about baboons, for instance)
would seem to negative such a conclusion. One might also
ask whether the custom among some primitive tribes of
1 DlnoJlfllf, /« Him>if del p. ±4.

myths and legends of the bantu

wearing an artificial tail (as the principal, if not the: sole,
article 'of dress) Could be the origin Or the result ot the
tradition.

The Celestial BeUman .

Murile—who reversed the action of Prometheus m bring¬
ing firc/o, no t/njJW, heaven—is a somewhat mysterious figure,
perhaps surviving from some forgotten mythology which, if
recovered, would bridge some gaps in his story. There is a
queer, fragmentary legend 1 about a person called Mrule,
“ the stranger from the sky," who may or may not have been
originally the same as Mu rile. He had only one leg, and
of die rest of his body only half was like a man ; the other
side was covered with grass . 3 lie first alighted among the
Masai (probably in the steppe to the north-west o( Kili¬
manjaro), and went on thence to ° our hill-country," ascend¬
ing the mountain at Shira, hopping on his one leg. Hie was
unable to speak. If he met anyone he only made a .sound
like mremrtm. So it is hardly surprising that the people fled
before him and barricaded themselves in their huts. He
wandered on from place to place, and could get food
nowhere. When he came to a homestead the inmates would
call to him through thei r barred doors to go away. Naturally
displeased, he found his way to the chiefs place, but was
not more kindly received there,* Then at last ho spoke:

“ 1 am Mrule !

Jfye reject tne here below

Rick Tu htlVCD I DlUit go ! Tl

It was high noon, with the sun just overhead. He sprang
into the air, ro.se straight up towards the sun, and was never
seen on earth again.

1 Gutnuiul, Fellibitf&f p. I f|D.

J We lhall met with (heK half*men everywhere ; they will fa fully di*CUBfd
Ml Chapter X]JI- The grdiA growing out oF oAC ride U curious. T do not
irifscrnfar anything like it efawbertp except in Zulu accttuou of the
a it ringe beinj£ drKfibd as the Oumi uf Hraven, and in tboscoE' ccrillp
manner*. The tulf-mcn uiutlly have nothing cm tfak uciJi-buman fide* or
it ii made of ww,

*■ One it reminded of a tcory by Mr H. VY. NcrirooD —one nai ltuc—di

jji unfortunate Nepra tailor ahipwrecked on [be Norfolk OWf

7 *

MORTALS ASCENDED TO HEAVEN

But not long af ter this the chief fell intu ihu fire, burning
himself badly; His people consulted the diviners, who
answered, “ You have sinned against Mnilc. You all said,
* He will bring ill-luck to the country if we take him in!
Who ever saw a being with one leg? r 'And the chief never
asked him, 'What brings you here?' Because n« one
asked him any tiring he went away. But he is surely a great
healer," Thus spoke the diviners. But all this time tortoises
had been collecting in the plain. They gathered themselves
into a long procession and came marching up to the chiefs
homestead, where they arranged themselves in a circle round
the spot from whichMrulehad ascended. And their J eader
chanted:

“ Propitiate, propitiate, and, when ye have don* so, asperse J rr

The diviners interpreted this saying to the chief, and he at
once sent for a black cow which had lately calved, a sheep*
and the water of expiation.” They sacrificed the tow anti
the sheep, made a cut in the neck of the tortoise-chief, and
touk a drop of blood from him , Then they mixed this with
the blood of the sacrifices and the water, and sprinkled the
thief with It—also the whole of the ground within the circle
of tortoises. So the curse was lifted* the tortoises went thetr
way into the plain* and the chief recovered from his injuries-
In quite recent times a legend has grown up out of one
of those rumours which arise no one knows how. 11 It was
after the first white men had come into our country.’ 11 One
day :tt noon a man appeared t floating in the air. He was
light-complexioiied, and held a bell in either hand. And he
cried, witri a loud voice:

11 Pay Lhar thou oweat to chy brother J
Halt thou a beast of Ha, give it bach ?

Hast thou a goat of hh f give it bark I
Thus s&ish the King,

Let every strmngcr in the Lind return to hh own home*

Every child held jit piwri shall go free to hil father s home.

Cease from violence; break the spar I
Thui sairh the King/*

1 The first European to reach ChflgJ wM RcbErmnn> in ityt.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

At sunset he was seen again. Sometimes he appeared in
one place, sometimes in another; but he never touched the
earth. The chief of Moshi {was this the famous Mandara,
properly called Rindi fi ordered his men to keep a look-out
for him. They sat and stared at the sky till the cool of the
evening drove them indoors. But they never saw him
more.

CHAPTER VI: THE GHOSTS AND THE
GHOST COUNTRY

T HE core of Bantu religion, we may say, Is the cult of
the dead.

The belief in a High God k more or lea* vague—
by some tribes it is almost forgotten, or, at any rate, not
much regarded-—but everywhere among Bantu-speak inn
peoples the spirits of the departed are recognized, honoured,
and propitiated. There is not the slightest doubt that these
people believe in something which survives the death nf the
oody, No African tribe can be said with certainty to think
that death ends all, perhaps not even the Masai, 1 of whom
this has been asserted in a somewhat haphazard fashion.
The universal Bantu custom of offerings to the spirits of
deceased relatives is surely a sufficient proof to the con¬
trary.

One cannot expect to find a reasoned theory of spiritual
existence among people as relatively primitive as these, nor
complete agreement between the beliefs of different tribes,
or even between individuals of the same tribe. But, gene¬
rally speaking, it h everywhere held that something, which
we will call the ghost, lives on when the body dies, and can,
to some extent, influence the affairs of the Jiving. The
ghosts can communicate with the living through dreams,
through signs and omens, and through the medium of
diviners or prophets. They may bring disaster on the family
or the tribe If offended by neglect or, sometimes, as a judg¬
ment on some undiscovered sin. They are not invariably
malignant, as sometimes stated ; in fact, they are quite often
regarded with affectionate respect* and show themselves
helpful to their kinsfolk in time of need*

Spirit not Immortal

Though the ghost survives the body for an indefinite
period it Is not necessarily thought of as living on for ever*
Some people distinctly state (perhaps only after having been

1 See HaUi% Tfo Mas#* p* jgj*

F Si

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

forced by questioning to think the matter out) that after the
lapse of several generations they simpty go back to nothing¬
ness, except in the case of outstanding personalities, re¬
membered beyond the circle of their im mediate descendants,
su e h as ancient chiefs a n d t ri bal benefactors. In other words,
the ghosts last only as long as they arc remembered by
the living: the parents and grandparents arc always com¬
memorated and sacrificed to; the three preceding genera¬
tions maintain a precarious existence, fighting for a Kbit re
in the offerings and occasionally forcing attention^ by
terrifying apparitions ; any older than these arc said to go
to pieces." Where reincarnation is definitely believed in,
as seems to be the case to a great extent, life lasts as long as
Lherc is a child of tire line to carry it on, and only comes to
an end if the family dies out. Yet another view prevails
among the Wazaramo, 1 a tribe of Tanganyika Territory, in
the immediate neigh hour hood of Dar-es-Salaam. With them
family ghosts (those of father, grandfather, and maternal
unde) are called miikuugu, and are honoured and propitiated
in the usual way. With the passing of generations they lose
their individuality, and are merged in the host of spirits
known collectively as vixjamkela or rnsjrn. The difference
between these two classes is variously stated, but every one
seems to be agreed that the latter arc the more powerful of
the two, while both have more power than ordinary kungu
ghosts. Some say that the virtyamkeia (singular kinjvmkcla)
are the ghosts of children, the mujini those of adults, while
others hold that the former were in their lifetime kindly,
inoffensive people, the majini men of violence. This last
name is of comparatively recent introduction, being borrowed
from the Arabic jinn ; the earlier name for such a ghost was
dzedztiti, or, according to some, muiene mfago, which means
“ lord (or lady) of die forest." This being is invisible,
except to the ' doctors,' whose business is to exorcize him,
and has his abode in hollow trees. The khiyamktht is also,
as a rule, invisible, but when he (or she) appears it is as half
a human body, " with one leg, one hand, one eye, and one

1 K Untruth, Jr, Zfibt&fif! ftr Kaitiual^farhm, pp. 4.S-73 I iS-ri-v

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

ear." I shall have something more to say about these halt-
human beings later on.

Abode of the Ghosts

Different accounts are given as to the whereabouts of the
ghosts, bur the most general notion seems to be that they
remain for some time in or about the grave, or perhaps at
a certain place in the hut they inhabited during life, and
afterwards depart to the country of the dead, which is
imagined to be underground. Here they live very much as
they did on earth, as one gathers from the numerous legends
of persons who have reached this country and come back to
tell the rale.

The Yao chief M a tope, who died near Elan tyre in i 8 93,
was buried, according to local custom, in his hut, which was
then shut up and left to fall into ruin. A year after his death
the headman brought out his stool and sprinkled Snuff round
it as an offering to his spirit, I was told that this would be
done again in the following year; after that he would cease
to haunt the spot. It was not said on this occasion where he
was expected to go.

The Wazaramo believe ghosts as a rule to be mischievous:
thus persons passing near a recent grave after dark may be
pelted with stones by the kungu —a trick which is also some¬
times played by the ktnyamkehi. But this characteristic is
hy no means universal.

The Dead return m Animal Form

Another very general belief is that the dead are apt to
reappear in animal forms, most usually those of snakes or
lizards, though, apparently, almost any animal may be
chosen. The Atonga of Lake Nyaaa say that by taking
certain medicines a person can ensure his changing after
death into whichever animal he may fancy. Some say that
their great chiefs come back as lions. Wizards of a specially
noisome kind can turn themselves at wilt, while living, into
hyenas or leopards—-it is not so clear whether they assume
the forms of these animals after death. 'I he precautions

myths and legends of the bantu

t iikcii by way of annihilating, if that were possible, the cl ['ail
bodies of such people would seem to have the object oi
preventing this.

The Country of the Dead

The ghost country can be reached through caves or holes
in the ground; a favourite incident in folk-tales k the
adventure of a man who followed a porcupine or other such
creature into its burrow, and by and by found himself in
the village of the dead. Mr M el land 1 says that by the
Wakuluwe (a tribe near the south end of Lake Tanganyika)
the Juinztaa (ghosts) " are supposed to remain in a village
in the centre of the earth." Casatis, 1 an early observer oi
the Basuto (about 1840), says; 11 All natives place the spirit
world in the bowels of the earth, I hey call this mysterious
region ncnW, the abyss/ 1 This word in recent dictionaries
is said to mean only : '* a hole in the ground, den, hole of
a wild animal,” so that the other signification, whether
primary or derived, has probably been forgotten. 1 he
spirit country is very generally known by a name related
to the Swahili kw&hnu- The stem -h'm, or a similar form,
occurs in many languages, meaning either a spirit or the
kind of monstrous ogre who will be discussed later.

The Bapcdi of the Transvaal used to say that the gateway
to Mosima was in their country, and could be entered by
anyone who had the courage. It seems to have been
necessary for two or more persons to go together 1 they held
each other's hands before entering the pass, and shouted:
“Ghosts, get out of the way! We are going to throw
stones I " After which they passed in without difficulty.

As already stated, the ghosts are believed to lead much
the same life in their village as they did on the upper earth;
but details vary from place to place. Some of Casalis 1 in¬
formants described valleys always green (no droughts such
as South African farmers dread) grazed over by immense
herds of beautiful hornless cattle. Others seemed to think
that the life was but a dull one, " without joy or sorrow."

1 Timqyt lif Heart of JfrKOf p. 14, 1 fj* RufiuMtai, p. i6t.

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

The Wakuluwc shades are described as weary anti home¬
sick, which is the reason why from time to time they come
up and fetch a relative to keep them company. In their
country it is always night—the absence of daylight is not
as a rule mentioned in these accounts—but " the village
... is said to be lighted by a mightier light than [any on]
earth, and the spirits wear shining clothes, and the huts are
thatched with shining grass,”

On Kilimanjaro the spirit Sand may be reached by plung¬
ing into pools, but there are also certain gateways—perhaps
some of the caves which abound in the sides of that mountain.
The gates are all dosed nowadays—more's the pity I

The Haunted Groves

But sometimes the ghosts have their dwelling above
ground, in the '* sacred groves ” where the dead are buried.
This custom of burial in the forest is very general in East
Africa; the trees of the bury ing-ground are never cu t down,
and care is taken to protect them, as far as possible, against
the bush-fires which rage at the end of the dry season.
Jlencc in Nyasaknd you will find hero and there, towering
over the level scrub, a clump of tall trees, and in their shade
some pots, a broken hoe or two, or the fragments of a bow
will mark the place of graves.

In these groves the spirits sometimes hold their revels;
people in distant villages have heard their drums. There
are places deep in the woods where the earth has been swept
clean, as if for a dancing-floor, and here they assemble.
Passu: rs-by may hear faint music, but sec no one; the sounds
seem to be in front, but when they have gone on a little way
they are heard behind them.

In Nyasaland there arc ghosts which haunt particular
hills, probably those where old chiefs have been buried^ and
there arc strange accounts given of "the spirits hill '
pin la mini mu —where women passing by carrying pots on
their heads have had the pots taken from them by baboons.
One is left to infer that the baboons are shapes assumed by
i Scotr, Dtdmary, p.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

the ghosts, though this is not expressly stated, and elsewhere
one finds baboons mentioned only as wizards' familiars, not
as reincarnated ancestors. There are bananas grown on the
spirits' hill—you can cut a bunch and eat some; but if you
cany any away they will have disappeared before you reach
your village.

Ghost Stories : the Kinyamkcla's Bananas

Near Mkongojc, in the Zaramo country, then; was once
a hollow tree haunted by a kiny<imkthi. Two hoys from
Mkongoie, Mahimbwa and Kibwana, strolling through the
woods, happened to come upon this tree, and saw that the
ground had been swept clean all round it and that there
was a bunch of bananas hanging from a branch. They took
the bananas down, ate them, and went home quite happy.
But that night, when they were both asleep in the * boys’
house 1 of their village, they were awakened by a queer noise,
and saw the one-legged, one-armed kinyamkefa standing in
the doorway. He called out to them t " You have eaten
my bananas ! You must die I ” And with that they were
suddenly hit by stones flying out of the darkness. There
was a regular rain of stones, tumps ol earth, and even human
bones. The boys jumped up, ran out, and took refuge in
another hut, but the stones followed them there. This went
on for four nights—apparently without anyone getting
Seriously hurt—anil then a doctor named Kikwilo decided
to take the matter in hand. He said to the boys, " You have
eaten the kinyamkela's bananas ‘ that is why he comes after
you.” He took a gourd, twice seven small loaves of bread,
a fowl, some rice, and some bananas, and went to the
kinyamkth's tree, where he laid the things down, saying,

” The boys are sorry for what they did. Can you not leave
them alone now?” That night the kinyamkela appeared
again to Maliimhwa and Kibwana, and said, 11 It's ail right
now; the matter is settled ; blit don't let it happen again.”

So there was peace in the village, and all would have been
well if the business had stopped there. But there was a
certain man named Mataula, a wood-carvcr, addicted to
86

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

hemp-smoking (this is perhaps mentioned to show that he
was not quite responsible), who was, unluckily, absent at
the time. When he came back and heard the story he
declared that some one must have been playing a trick «n
the boys, and announced that he would sit up that night and
see what happened. So he loaded his gun and waited. The
kinyamhla must have heard his words, for as soon as it was
dark he began to be pelted with bones and all sorts of dirt,
ami at last an invisible hand began to beat him with a leg-
bane, He could not fire, AS he Could see no one, and was
quite helpless to defend himself against the missiles. The
neighbours had no cause to bless him, for they began to be
persecuted similarly, and at last the whole population had to
emigrate, as life in the village had become unendurable. 1

Some well-authenticated reports from clergy of the Uni¬
versities’ Mission who have seen and felt lumps of mud
thrown about without visible agency make one wonder
whether stories like this ought not to Ere taken seriously.
Similar occurrences nearer home have sometimes been
satisfactorily explained, but not always.

Kwege and Bahafi

Another story from Uzaramo* shows the dead coming
back in the form of birds. This is less usual than for them
to come as snakes or lions, except in the special case of a
murdered man or woman, as will be illustrated by the story
of Nyengebule to be told presently.

There was once upon a time a man who married a woman
of the Uwingu clan ( ut/iingu means ‘sky ’) who was named
Mulamuwingu, and whose brother, Muwingu, Jived in her
old home, a day or two's journey from her husband’s.

The couple had a son called Kwcge, and lived happily
enough till, in course of time, the husliand died, leaving his
wife with her son and a slave, Bahati, who had belonged to
an old friend of theirs and had come to them on that friend’s
death.

1 KJ.imroxh, in ZtitorkrTftfS'r tCt&MtntymcAfWp p. 11£

* !&{J. r p. e:I.

F »7

myths and legends of the bantu

Now the te&v of the Sky dan was rai»— that is, rain must
never be allowed to fall on anyone belonging to it; if this
were to happen he or she would die.

One day when the weather looked threatening Miila-
muwingu said, " My son Kwege, just go over to the garden
and pick some gourds, so that 1 can cook them for our
dinner/' Kwege very ruddy refused, and Ids mother re-
joined, “ I am afraid of my mitdJziU (tabu). It 1 go to the
garden I shall die.” Then Bahati, the slave, said, “ I will
go," and he went and gathered t he gourds and brought them

back. , ,

Next day Kwege’s mother again asked him^to go to the
Garden, and again he refused- So she said, \ery well ,
! will go; but if 1 die it will be your fault." She set out,
and when she reached the garden, which was a long way
from any shelter, a great cloud gathered, and it began to
rain. When the first drops touched her she fcl! down dead.

Kwege had no dinner that evening, and when he found
his mother did not come home either that day or the next
(it docs not seem to have entered into his head that he might
go in search of her) he began to cry, saying, " Mother is
dead I Mother is dead ! " Then he ca I led Rahati, and they
set out to go to his uncle's village.

Now Kwege was a handsome lad, but Bahati was very
ugly; and Kwege was well dressed, with plenty of doth,
while Bahati had only a bit of rag round his waist.

As they walked along Kwege said to Bah at i, 11 When wc
come to a log lying across the path you must carry me over.
If I step over it I shall die," For Kwege's mvddtsUv was
stepping over a log.

Bahati agreed, but when they came to a fallen tree ho
refused to lift Kwege over till he had given him a cloth.
This went on every time they came to a log, till he had
acquired everything Kwege was wearing, down to his I eg lets
ami his bead ornaments. And when they arrived at
Muwingu’s village and were welcomed by the people Bahati
sat down on one of the mats brought out tor them and told^
Kwege to sit on the bare ground. He introduced himselt
SS

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

to Muwingu as his sister’s son, and treated Kwege as his
slave, suggesting, after a day or two, that he should he sent
out to the rice-fields to scare the birds, Kwege, in the ragged
kilt which was the only thing Bahati had left him, went out
to the fields, looked at the Hocks of birds hovering over the
rice, and then, sitting down under a tree, wept bitterly.
Presently he began to sing:

M I* K wegf w I wwp !

And my crying 3 s what the bird* say,

OJi r you log, my fnAu 1
I cry i4 the speech of die birds.

They have taken my dvtho.

They have taken my legits,

They hivc taken my btids,

I si4 turned into Baiun.

Jkh.ui is turned into Kwegv.

I weep in the speech of jbe hin-P&/ T

Now his dead parents had both been turned into birds.
They came and perched on the tree above him, listening to
hia song, and said, u L$w f Muwtngu has taken Bahati into
his house and is treating him like a, free man and Kwcgc,
his nephew, as a slave ! How can that be ? "

Kwcgc heard what they said, and fold his story* Then
Ids father flapped one wing, and out fell a bundle of doth ;
he flapped the other wing arid brought out brads, leglets,
and a little gourd full of oil* His mother, in the same wav,
produced a ready-cooked meal of rice and meat. When he
had eaten they tetched water (by this time they had been
turned back into human bemgs), washed him and oiled him,
and then said, l+ Never mind the birds-—let them eat
Muwmgu'a rkc, since he has sent you to scare them while
he is treating Bahati as Jils son J 11 So they sat down, all
three together, and talked till the sun went down.

On the way back Kwegc hid all the cloth and beads that
his parents had given him in the Jong grass, and put on his
old rag again# But when he reached the house the family
were surprised to see him looking so clean and glossy, as
il he had just come from a bath, and cried out, * 4 Where did

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

yoii get this ail you have been nibbing yourself with ? Did
you run off and leave your work to go after it ? 1 ’ He did not
want to say, “ Mother gave it me,” so he simply denied that
he had been anointing himself.

Next day he went back to the rice-field and sang his song
again. The birds flew down at once, and, seeing him in the
same miserable state as before, asked him what lie had done
with their gifts. He said they had. been taken from him,
thinking that, while he was about it, he might as well get aJI
he could, They did not question his good faith, but supplied
him afresh with everything, and, resuming their own forms,
they sat by him while he ale.

Meanwhile Muwingu’s son had taken it into his head to
go and see how the supposed Bahati was getting on with
his job-—it is possible that he had begun to be suspicious
of the man who called himself Kwege. What was his
astonishment to see a good-looking youth, dressed in a clean
doth, with bead necklaces and all the usual ornaments,
sitting between two people, whom he recognized as his
father’s dead sister ana her husband. He was terrified, and
ran back to tell his father that Kwegc was Bahati and Bahati
Kwege, and related what he had seen. Muwingu at once
went with him to the ricedicld, and found that it was quite
true. They hid and waited far Kwege to come home. 1 hen,
as he drew near the place where he had hidden his doth,
his uncle sprang out and seized him. He struggled to get
away, but Muwingu pacified him, saying, “ So you arc my
nephew Kwegc after all, and that Fellow is Bahati I Why
did you not tell me before? Never mind; I shall kill him
to-day.” And kill him they did ; and Kwege was installed
in his rightful position. Muwingu made a great feast,
inviting all his neighbours, to celebrate the occasion. " Here
ends my story/’ says the narrator.

Kwege, it will be seen, is described as anything but a
model son, who does not deserve the kindness of his
very forbearing parents; but it Is evidently reckoned for
righteousness to him that he submitted to any amount of
inconvenience and indignity rather than break his mvsidzik.
90

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

Another point to notice is the curious limitation in the
powers of the ghosts. They can assume any form they
please and go anywhere they wish; they can produce magical
stores out of nowhere; but they never seem to suspect that
Kwege is deceiving them when he says he has been robbed
of their gifts. Why Kwege should not have exposed Bahati
when he reached his uncle’s house is not clear, unless, with
African fatalism , 1 he felt sure that he would not be believed.

44 False Bride ” Stories

This story reminds one of Grimm’s “ Goose Girl,” as far
as Bahati’s imposture is concerned; but the theme is a
world-wide one. In Angola the story of Fenda Madia has
probably come from Portugal, and has nothing to do with
the ghosts, but the Zulu “ Untombiyapansi ” (more shortly
told by McCall Theal as “ The Girl and the Mbulu ”) is
genuine African. Here a girl on her way to her sister’s
kraal (her parents being dead) is overtaken by an imbulu ,

“ a fabulous creature which can assume the human form,
but can never part with its tail.” It tricks her out of her
clothes, rides on her ox, and personates her on arriving at
the village, where it is received as the chieFs daughter, while
Untombiyapansi is sent to scare the birds. She summons
her dead parents from underground by striking the earth
with a brass rod, and they appear in their own proper form
and succour her. The imbulu is detected and killed, and the
chief, already married to her sister, takes Untombiyapansi
as his second wife . 2

The Makonde people , 8 in Tanganyika Territory, have a
story of an orphan, who deserves more sympathy than Kwege.
He was bullied by the other boys, who robbed him of the
animals he had caught when he was more successful than
they. So one day he proposed that they should go to hunt

1 It is scarcely fair to use this expression as if it applied to all Africans; but the
characteristic is noticeable among tribes who have suffered from slave-raids or the
oppression of more powerful neighbours.

* Callaway, Nursery Tales, p. 303.

8 The Makonde Plateau is near the East Coast, south of Lindi and to the north
of the river Ruvuma. This story was collected by Mr Frederick Johnson.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

in :i terrain wood, where his father and mother were buried*
When they came to the grave he told the others to sit down,
saying, “ If you see anything coming out don’t run.” Then
he began to sing ^his com pan ions joining in the chorus) ■

«' l-jttier! Fithci 1 ! come out of j'our grave J

Ciiouvs ; Npndt iiytytf The nudera come I
They tjeatymjf child like ihc .meanest *Uv£.

" jVFmJo liypya / The raid™ come !
r Tripped my mtj with weariful tail ;

Ng&frfa /hisya ! The raiders come ?

They've rubbed me of ill my bard-won spoiL

Nr&xtiv /iyaya* The mi dm come f
* YVra'ra no father or mother I r they iiid.

Ngcwda The raiders comt I

1 Your pam^JJ hive gone to the Place of the Dead 1 *

NgaxJ$ Rymjaf The midci* come J "

There is a certain attractive simplicity about the literal
translation of what follows;

New came i snake from the grave there and lay down and
coiled itself, and the hop wanted to run, and he said, H * not
run." And they sat there, dapping their hands. That snake
curie from the grave of his far her. And he atutf: and sang at tile
grave of his mot her, and n snake ako came from rhat place and
coiled itself ihrre. And he >em^ again—

nearly the same song as before:

” Father! Mother f from Dead MenftTown p
Ciioaus: A^vwdi tty ay* / The raiders come 1 1
Come forth, come forth, and iw allow them down*

Who icons td And wronged me day by d ay,

And robbed me of Jill my lawful prey.

J You've no father or mother 1 1 they said.

1 Your parent* have gone io the Place of the Dead f p rT

The snakes then rose up and swalluwed all the boy s
companions. Their son sang again, and they retired into
their holes, while he went back to the village. The parents
of the other boys asked him about them, but he only
answered, “ I do not know ; they left me in the forest.”

1 Repeated after each line, ai beli**.

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

As the boys did not come home their parents consulted
a diviner, who told them that “ the orphan had hidden his
companions.” So they questioned the orphan lad, and he
told every one who had lost a boy to bring him a slave—
a touch which cannot be very recent. They did so, and he
set off for the grave with his newly acquired retinue, all
singing together. He called once more on his parents, and
the boys all came out, safe and sound, and marched back to
the village. The orphan lad went with his slaves to an un¬
occupied piece of land in the bush, where they built a new
village and he became a chief and lived there with his people . 1

An African ‘ Holle ’ Story

How a girl reached the land of the ghosts and came back
is told by the Wachaga.* Marwe and her brother were
ordered by their parents to watch the bean-field and drive
away the monkeys. They kept at their post for the greater
part of the day, but as their mother had not given them any
food to take with them they grew very hungry. They dug
up the burrows of the field-rats, caught some, made a fire,
roasted their game, and ate it. Then, being thirsty, they
went to a pool and drank. It was some distance off, and
when they came back they found that the monkeys had
descended on the bean-patch and stripped it bare. They
were terribly frightened, and Marwe said, “ Let’s go and
jump into the pool.” But her brother thought it would be
better to go home without being seen and listen to what
their parents were saying. So they stole up to the hut and
listened through a gap in the banana-leaves of the thatch.
Father and mother were both very angry. 44 What are we
to do with such good-for-nothing creatures ? Shall we beat
them? Or shall we strangle them?” The children did
not wait to hear any more, but rushed off to the pool.
Marwe threw herself in, but her brother’s courage failed
him, and he ran back home and told the parents: 44 Marwe
has gone into the pool.” They went down at once, quite

1 Johnson, ** Notes on Kimakonde.”

* Gutmann, Volhbuch , p. 117.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

forgetting: the hasty words provoked by the sudden dis^
covery of their loss, arid called again and again, ** Marwe,
come home I Never mind about the beans \ wc can plant
the patch again! Pl But there was no answer. Day after
day the father went down to the pool and tailed her—
always in vain. Marwe had gone into the country of the
ghosts.

You entered it at the bottom of the pool. Before she had
gone very far she came to a hut, where an old woman lived,
with a number of children. This old woman called her in
and told her she might stay with her. Next day she sent her
out with the others to gather firewood, but said , 44 You need
not do anything. Let the others do the work." Marwe,
however, did her part with the rest, and the same when they
were sent out to cut grass or perform any other tasks* She
was offered food from time to time, but always made some
excuse for refusing it* (The Jiving who reach the land of
the dead can never leave it again if they eat while there—
a belief met with elsewhere than in Africa.) So time went
on, till one day she began to weary, and said to the other
girls, fi I should like to go home." The girls advised her
to go and tell the old woman, which she did, and the old
body had no objection, but asked her, M Shall I hit you with
the cold or with the hot ? 19 It is not easy to see what is
meant by this question, but In all stories of this kind, which
are numerous, the departing visitor to the ghost land is
given a choice of some kind—sometimes between two gifts,
sometimes between two ways of going home. Perhaps the
meaning of the alternative here proposed has been lost in
tran $m Us ion or i n trims! at ion * Th c good girl a 1 ways c hrmscs
the Jess attractive article or road, and Marwe asked to he
“ hie with die cold." The woman told her to dip her arms
into a pot she had standing beside her. She did so, and
drew them out covered with shining bangles. She was then
toJd to dip her feet, and found her ankles adorned with fine
brass and copper chains. Then the woman gave her a skin
petticoat worked with beads, and said , 41 Your future husband
is called Sawoye. It is he who will carry you home/*

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

She went with her to the pool, rose to the surface, and left
her sitting on the bank. It happened that there was a
famine in the land just then. Some one saw Marwe, and
ran to the village saying that there was a girl seated by the
pool richly dressed and wearing the most beautiful orna¬
ments, which no one else in the countryside could afford,
the people having parted with all their valuables to the
coast-traders in the time of scarcity. So the whole popula¬
tion turned out, with the chief at their head. They were
filled with admiration of her beauty. (It seems that her
looks had not suffered in the ghost country, in spite of her
not eating.) They all greeted her most respectfully, and
the chief wanted to carry her home; but she refused.
Others offered, but she would listen to none till a certain
man came along, who was known as Sawoye. Now Sawoye
was disfigured by a disease from which he had suffered
called woye , whence his name. As soon as she saw him
Marwe said, “ That is my husband.” So he picked her up
and carried her home and married her.

This is a somewhat unusual kind of wedding, from the
Bantu point of view: nothing is said about the parents.
But the whole circumstances were unusual: it is not every
day that a girl comes back from the country of the dead,
having had her destined husband pointed out by the
chieftainess of the ghosts.

We are not told, but I think we must be meant to under¬
stand, that Sawoye soon lost his disfiguring skin disease and
appeared as the handsomest man in the clan. With the old
lady’s bangles they bought a fine herd of cattle and built
themselves the best house in the village.. And they would
have lived happy ever after if some of his neighbours had
not envied him and plotted to kill him. They succeeded,
but his faithful wife found means to revive him, and hid him
in the inner compartment of the hut. Then, when the
enemies came to divide the spoil and carry Marwe off to be
given to the chief as his wife, Sawoye came out, fully armed,
and killed them all. After which he and Marwe were left
in peace.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Other f HoIk* Stories

Two interesting variants come from the Ngondc country.
One is described by a Jearned German writer as 41 psycho¬
logically incomprehensible 1 ' \ but if he had a complete ver¬
sion before him he would seem curiously to have missed the
point, A woman is u persuaded by another M —evidently a
jealous co-wdfe—to throw away her baby, because it is weakly:
other versions show that he ought to have added "in the hope

of getting it back improved in health and looks / 1 The rest
of the story Is much the same as that of " La Route du del*"
and fellows much more naturally from Its opening than does
that Lilt:, except that the jealous woman, ins toad of being struck
dead, getsonly half a baby, with one arm, one leg, and so on. J

In the other story the opening Is more mysterious: the
mother* coming to a river too deep to ford, heard a voice
telling her to throw her baby into the water, and she would
be able to walk over dryshod. She did so, and the water
parted to let her cross; but when she had reached the other
side she could not find the child again. She had to go home
without It* and was told by her husband to go away and
never come back till she had found it. Wandering through
the forest, she met, one after another, a Ison, a leopard, a
crocodile, and other animals, all, apparently, suffering from
ophthalmia, who asked her where she was going, requested
of her a most unpleasant service, and after she had rendered It
allowed her to pass on. She then met a very old man* who
[old her that she would shortly come to a place where the
path divided, and would hear a voice on one side saying

and one on the other side saying ftJL She was to follow
the first, which she did, and arrived at a hut, wdiere a woman
showed her a number of beautiful children and told her to
choose one. There is the usual sequd : the envious neigh¬
bour disregards all advice and meets In the end with her
deserts—'in this case by having to carry home a wretched,
diseased, and crippled infant . 1

1 TTnpuhtiihcd j ijuotcd by Dr FQlkborn r iii Dai dtvfifA jr Njas.ni- und Rinxitmfr
£rAr>l K p, fry

* touhttup, " Wij tKh die Kondfi in DfruudiOiurniu en*bten. M

GHOSTS AND THE GHOST COUNTRY

The incident of the stream stands along, so far as I know,
m stones of tins type The dividing of a river occurs more
than once in a very different connexion—in traditions of
tnbaJ migrations, as when one of the Ngoni chiefs was said
o have struck the Zambezi with his stick, to let the people
cross.* The voices—from the river and from the two paths
—may belong to some bit of forgotten mythology. 1 n one
oi the hare stones which form the subject of Chapter XVJI
the hyena tells the hare that when crossing the river he may
hear a voice ordering him to throw away his bread. This
of course, is a trick on the hyena’s part, but seems to be'
accepted as a possible occurrence, and may be an echo of
some bdicl in river-spirits.

Do the Dead return tq Life f

The possibility of the dead returning to life is frequently
assumed m folk-tales, 3 but 1 do not know that it is seriously
believed in at the present day, as seems to be the case for
the visits of living men and women to the Underworld. The
cv. L On aid Fraser relates an extraordinary incident* ; a man
was thought to have died, but came to, and said that he had
reached the ghosts country, where he saw and spoke to
people, but none would answer him- in fact, they showed
him decidedly that they did not want him, and he had to
come back.

The Wazaramo appear to have a divinity called Kofelo,
who lives in a cave in the form of a huge serpent. Remember¬
ing the very common belief that the spirits of the dead come
back in die form of snakes, it may be considered probable
that this Kol do was origin ally an ancestral ghost. He played
a great part in the troubles of 1905 (known as the *■ Majimaji
Rebellion") in what was then German East Africa ; but his
legend will come in more fittingly in Chapter XVI.

„ * Jl ?f *»' T ' CllI k n VooflE thiakl thk nuy have «TKn from 1 ha fitf that the
Kflom hid i*iyr Ken n log eaoac, which mi p ht he detcrtbtd u 1 nick (‘lor.*
tree, nick ’ miffli Kimetilnca be by (he umt wish!), Jm J mt»-

tindtnt^T jli the tndjrioo wa* pj^srH on.

’ A. ih lhc Itory of ” Tu^dtoL-bq," Theal, Xaffir Fcltbrr, p. «,

* W rmrijiy a Pnmtkni j>. 116.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

The name seems also to be attached to a cave in the Nguu
country, the seat of a famous oracle—also to be mentioned
in Chapter XVI.

The notion that the soul of a murdered person may come
back in the shape of a bird, to make the crime known and
call for justice on the murderer, has been touched on in a
previous page. In the next chapter will be given several
stories showing how the innocent blood cries for vengeance,
and how its cry never passes unheard.

CHAPTER VII: THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

T HE usual unwritten law of primitive peoples is, in
theory at least, " a life for a life," the clan of the
murdered man being entitled to kill the murderer,
if they can get hold ol him \ if not, one of his family, or, at
any rate, a member of the same clan. No difference was
originally made between intentional anti accidental killing,
though this distinction came to be recognized later. In time
the principle of ransom came into force—the weregi/J of
our Saxon ancestors. The Yaos would express it thus in a
case where the relations had failed to kill the murderer out
of hand and had captured a relative of his; “ You have slain
our brother; wc have caught yours; and we will send him
after our brother—or keep him as a slave—unless you pay
a ransom. * I his last alternative has tended more and more
to become the usual practice in Africa,

Murder of a Relative

But a difficulty arose when a min killed one of his own
relations* Jn that case who could demand compensation?
fur the: slayer and the slain were of the same daji. And the
general belief about this shows that such a thing is regarded
with horror and as almost unthinkable* Such a man would
be seized by a kind of madness—the Anyanja call it e&ir&pt*
and s&y, +l T he blood of his companion enters his heart;

It makes hfm just like a drunk man / 1 Or ? as the Yaos say, J
" He wi ll become emaciated, Jose his eyesight* and ultimately
die a miserable death / 5 Though the owner of a slave in
theory had the power of life and death, he was afraid of
tAirapg if he killed him. He could escape only by being
* doctored r with a certain charm, which* one may suppose,
would not be too easily procured.

The Warrior's Purification

A man who had killed another in battle also had to be
* doctored/ for fear that he should be haunted by the ghost

1 Spcptl, Du Jtar^rj, p H ■ Duf Mtcdoillld, AfrUMO, Taj. i, p. i£3 r

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

of the slain—no doubt because, from the nature of the case,
the dead man’s kin could not follow the usual procedure.
With the Zulus 1 the ‘ doctoring ’ ( ukuqunga ) was a long and
complicated process, involving various tabus: an essential
point was that the warrior must cut open the corpse of his
foe before it began to swell. This precaution (the neglect
of which rendered him liable to be possessed by the avenging
ghost—a form of insanity known as iqungo) has, not un¬
naturally, been misunderstood and given rise to reports of
atrocities, mutilation of the dead,” and so on, as
happened in the Zulu War of 1879.

The Two Brothers

There is a well-known story, current, probably, among
all the South African Bantu, in which the secret murder of
a brother is brought to light and avenged. It is usually
called “ Masilo and Masilonyane,” though the Zulu variant
has a different name. In some versions the guilty brother
is killed when detected, but in what would appear to be the
oldest and most authentic he is driven from the clan and
becomes an outcast. Perhaps we find the beginning of a
change from the older view in one case, where he is said
to have been killed, not by a member of the family, but by
a servant ( mohlanka ) of Masilonyane’s—presumably not a
member of the clan.

the most usual form of the story 2 the two brothers,
Masilo and Masilonyane, went hunting together and hap¬
pened upon a ruined village. The younger, Masilonyane,
went straight on through the ruins with his dogs, while his
brother turned aside and skirted round them. In the middle
of the ruins Masilonyane found a number of large earthen
pots turned upside down. He tried to turn up one of the
largest, but it resisted all his efforts. After he had tried in
vain several times he called to his brother for help, but

* Colenso, Zulu-English Dictionary, p. 513.

mo _ re „ or , combined two versions : one by S. H. Edwards, in
£ vo1 ' p ' ,39 ’ “ d ,he other byJacotte,,in

IOO

THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

JVtesita refused, saying, 11 Pass on. Why do you trouble
about pots?” Masilonyuie persevered, however, and at
length succeeded in heaving up the pot, and in doing so
uncovered a little old woman who was grinding red ochre
between two stones. Masilonyane, startled at this appari¬
tion, was about to turn the pot over her again, but she
remonstrated: " My grandchild, do you turn me up and
then turn me upside down again?” She then requested
him to carry her on his back. Before he had time to refuse
she jumpeef up and clung to him, so that he could not get
rid of her, He called Musilo, but Masilo only jeered and
refused to help him. He had to walk on with his burden,
til], at List, seeing a herd of springbok, he thought he had
found a way of escape, and said, “ Grandmother, get down,
that I may go and kill one of these tang-legged animals, so
that I may carry you easily in its skin.” She consented, and
sat down on the ground, while Masilonyane called his dogs
and made off at full speed after the game. But as soon as
he was out of her sight he turned aside and hid in the hole
of an ant-bear. The old woman, however, was not to be
defeated. After waiting for a rime and finding that he did
not come back she got up and tracked him by his footprints,
till she came to his hiding-place. He had to come out and
take her up again, and so he plodded on for another weary
mile or two, till the sight oi some hartefaeests gave him
another excuse for putting her down- Once more he hid,
and once more she tracked him; but thin time he set his
dogs on her, and they killed her. He told the dogs to eat
her, all but her great toe, which they did. He then took an
axe and chopped at the toe, when out tame many cattle, and,
last of all, a beautiful COW, spotted like a guinea-fowl*

This incident, monstrous as it appears to us—especially
as there has been no hint that the old woman was of unusual
51 Zt ; indeed, she was not too big to E*e carried on Masilo-
nyane*s back—is not uncommon in Bantu folklore* and in
some cases seems to link on to the legend of the Swallowing
Monster, Now Masilo* who had shirked all the unpleasant
part of the day's adventures, came running up and demanded

JOT

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

a share of the cattle. Masilonyane, not unnaturally refused,
and they went on together.

After a while Masilonyane said he was very thirsty, and
his brother said he knew of a water-hole not far off. They
went there, and found that it was covered with a large, Hat
stone. They levered up the stone with their spears, and
Masilonyane held it while Masilo stooped to drink. When
he, in his turn, stooped to reach the water Masilo dropped
tile stone on him and crushed him to death. Then he col¬
lected the cattle and started to drive them home. Suddenly
he saw a small bird perching on the horn of the speckled
cow; it sang :

“ GtwiJlt Cimfdil Ma$tlu li» killed MatiJrmyane, because cf
speck led cow! *

(People say it was Masilonyanc's heart which was changed
into a bird.) Magilu threw a stone at the bird, and seemed
to have killed it, but it came to life again, and before lie had
gone very far he saw it sitting on the cow's horn, and killed
it once more, as he thought.

^hen he reached his home all the people crowded to
gether and greeted him. “DsmelitJ Chiefs son ! Dumtht!
Chiefs son I Where is Masilonyane r ” He answered, “ I
don t know; we parted at the water-hole, and I have not
seen him since,. They went to look at the cattle, and ex**
claimed in admiration, " What a beautiful cow 1 Just look
at her markings I ”

.While they were standing there the little bird flew up
With a great whirring of wings and perched on the horn of
the speckled cow and sang;

CAic,J,! Cksidi t Masilo has killed Mislkmyme, all for lita
•peckled ™! ’*

Masilo threw a stone at the bird, but missed it, and the
men said. Just leave that bird alone and let us hear." The
' lir d ^ samc Wfjrds over and over agaiu, and the people
heard tiiL-rn clearly. They said, So that is what you have
done I lou have killed your younger brother*” And

THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

Masilo had nothin*; to say. So they drove him nut of the
village.

A different version from North Transvaal 1 makes the
cattle come out of a hollow tree, and says nothing about the
old woman. It also prefixes to the story some incidents not
found elsewhere, which show Masibnyane in a less favour¬
able light than that in which we have so far regarded him.
At any rate, he does something, by Ids arrogance, to provoke
his elder brother’s enmity. Their father had entrusted them
with the means of buying a beast or two to start a herd—the
recognized manner of providing for sons, Masibnyane
(here called Mash ilwane), by clever trading and repeated
strokes of good luck, soon became richer than his brother,
and so provoked Masilo’s envy. Mashilwane did nothing
to conciliate him ; on the contrary, he kept On boasting of
his prosperity, and even, when his wife died, said, “ [am
Mashilwane, whom death cannot touch 1"

Another point of difference in this version is that it is one
of Mashilwane » dogs who reveals the murder and leads the
clansmen to the place where the body is hidden. In the
other there is no question of the body; indeed, in one form
of the story the murdered man comes to life again, the bird
suddenly taking his shape. On the whole the North Trans¬
vaal version seems later and more consciously elaborated_

perhaps in response to questions from European auditors.

A hunter's dogs figure in a story from Angola, 1 where an
elder brother kiljs a younger, being envious of his success.
He gives part of the body to the two dogs, but they refuse to
eat it; instead they Jift up their voices and denounce him.
Ho kills and buries them; they come to life, follow him
home, and report the whole affair in the village. The story
ends; “ They wailed the mourning nothing is said about
the fate of the murderer. A brother killing a brother is
something quite outside the common course of Jaw.

It is not entirely the same with a wife, who, by the nature
of the case, must belong to a different dan ; the duty of

1 Hnffmann, fur vgJ. vi f tfo. j.

1 CtatcEaia H Flft-tabt */ j>. 117.

103

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

exacting retribution naturally falls on her relations once the
crime is made known.

Tlie Xosa Tale of Nyengebulc

So it was with Nyengebule. 1 He had two wives, who, one
day, went out together to collect lire wood in the forest. The
younger found a bees’ nest in a hollow tree, and called her
companion to help her takeout the honeycomb. When they
had done so they sat down and ate it, the younger thought¬
lessly finishing her share, while the elder kept putting some
aside, which she wrapped up in leaves to take home for her
husband. Arriving at the kraal, each went to her own hut.
The elder, on entering, found her husband seated there,
and gave him the honeycomb. Nyengebule thanked her for
the attention, and ate the honey, thinking all the time that
Nqaudamate, the younger wife, who was his favourite, would
also have brought him some, especially as he was just then
staying in her hut, When he had finished eating he hastened
thither and sat down, expecting that she would presently
produce the titbit. But he waited in vain, and at last, be¬
coming impatient, he asked, " Where is the honey? ” She
said, " I have not brought any, 1 ' Thereupon he lost his
temper and struck her with his stick, again and again. The
little bunch of feathers which she was wearing on her head
(as a sign that she was training for initiation as a doctor) fell
to the ground ; he struck once more in his rage; she fell,
and he found that she was dead. He made haste to bury her,
and then-—he is shown as thoroughly selfish and callous
throughout—he gathered up his sticks and set out for her
parents’ kraal, to report the death (which he would represent
as an accident) and demand his /aAafr-Cattlc 1 back. But the
little plume which had fallen from her head when he struck
her turned into a bird and fiew after him.

When he had gone some distance he noticed a bird sitting
a bush by the wayside, and heard it singing these words :

1 South African FtJi Urt y«untaJ, July iS^,

r A man who bit wife heftm- *he hai had any children it entitled to get
back ib* Mile Jsc twrd an hit her parenti can me him mother

daughter ioiEcad of bet\

IO4

A Zuev Womas, Pause*

J "TTUIn nil ‘f JJ ujan*p

THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

IJ I am Eh* little plume of the dlligcni wood-gatherer.

The w'ifis orNjcugebule,

I in the ok who was killed hr the house-owner, vmatfmfy 1
He uUog me for moneb ofhontyconUj- ,#

It kept up with him, flying alongside the path, till at last
he threw a stick at it It paid no attention, but kept on as
before, so he hit it with his knobkerrie, killed it, threw it
away, and walked on, t

But after a while it came back again and repeated its song.
Blind with rage, he again threw a stick at it, killed it, stopped
to bury it, and went on his way.

As he was still going on it came up again and sang;

“ I tm llie little plume of the diligent wood-gill»cter . ,

At that he became quite desperate, and said, What shall
I do with this bird, which keeps on tormenting me about a
matter I don't want to hear about? 1 will kill it now, once
for all, and put it into my bag to take with me.” Once more
he threw hia stick at the little bird and killed it, picked it up,
and put it into bis inxo&a -—the bag, made from the skin of
some small animal, which natives carry about with them to
supply the place of a pocket. He tied the bag up tightly
with a thong of hide, and thought he had now completely

disposed of his enemy. , ... .

So he went on till he came to the kraal of his wife s rela¬
tions, where he found a dance going on. He became so
excited that he forgot the business about which he had Lome,
and hurried in to join in the fun. He had just greeted his
sisters-in-law when one them asked hirn or snu * w
told her—being in a hurry to begin dancing and entirely
forgetful of what the bag contained—to untie the ixxoiva,
which he had laid aside. She did so, and out flew the bird—
Jri-i-i! it flew up to the gate-post, and, perching there,

began to sing:

“ NJt Wmw «ht’ Tauttz*

’Mfsa UuftagrfoJt t
Hitngel/tltBt 'MmninJiln
EbtxdihtfZJi MUMjatOKf^a tbkii"

He heard it, and, seeing that every one else had abo

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTTJ

heard it, started to run away, Some of the men jumped up
and seized hold of him, saying, " What arc you running
away for?” He answered—his guilty conscience giving
him away against his will—'* Me ! I was only coming to
the dance. I don't know what that lord is talking about.”

It began again, and its Song rang out clearly over the
heads of the men who were holding him :

11 Ndi VjAwii sikif ffia&ifsx , *

They listened, the meaning of the song began to dawn on
them, and they grew suspicious. They asked him, " What
is this bird saying ? " He said, " I don’t know."

They killed him.

With this brief statement the story closes, leaving to the
imagination the clamour that arose, the cries of the mother
and sisters, the brothers rushing for their kerries, the doomed
man’s frantic struggles, , . . Samhla/a, "They killed him.”
Father Torrent! says:

talcs of this kind, uh owing that every crime finds an unexpected
rcvtalcr, appointed by a superior power, are very common in the
whole o! the Zamhevl region. In this par ocular rale fwhich
will be given presently] die revofer is a child . . , in other* it
is a frnle dog, but in tales far more numerous it is a Iitrie bird which
no killing ran prevent from rising from the dead and suiting of the
criminal deed until punishment is meted out tn the guilty person. 1

One such story was collected by Mrs Dewar * among the
Winamwanga, to the north of Lake Nyasa, on the farthest
edgt: nt the Zambezi region/ 1 since their country is near
the sources of the Chambezi.® As set down by her it is
very shortj but it may be worth while to reproduce it here,
as it gives the notes of the birds song.

Once upon a rime there was a man and Jiis younger brother.
Jhc younger brother was chief [It is not explained how this
happened, but no doubt he was the son of the 1 Great Wife/ and
as such his father's heir] One day when he climbed a mpartgwa

* f' 17 1 CAmumtuangd Slants p, ag T

tfDc; the nary 1* mt c&nfiacd la that rtpion, m underlying m uUtc beiipg
practically uaiveraA], J *

106

THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

ircc [which hears,™ edible fruit, mud) liked]hisdder bmrherkilled
him, Afterward, he amc to life again as a little bird mid sang:

*--Jh j i }T 7 W 1 n } ■ J ill

fecyet Wi- nto-iuc-In p<L chL-mpa-ngwn

[“ Ntyt! [a ntere cicfcmxUon] He hai tilled me bemuse of [he txpz
fhiij.

The mpangttta by the roadside.

Doesn't it help us in time of need J ”]

That is al I, but the rest is not difficult to guess. The bird's
aong deems somewhat obscure, but probably means that the
voting ma n was gathering the fruit to eat in a time of scarcity.
This is a detail stressed in the next story,* though the other
incidents are quite different.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Once upon a time there was a married couple who had
two children. Not long after the birth of the second the
wife said she wanted to go and see her mother. The
husband agreed, and they set out. It happened to be a
time of famine, and drey had little or nothing to cat, so
when they came to a wild fig-tree by the wayside the man
climbed it and began to shake down the fruit, 1 The wife
and the elder child picked up the figs and ate them as fast
as they fell. Presently there fell, among the rest, a particu¬
larly large and fine one. The husband called out s " My
wife, do not cat that % I If you do I will kill you.” 1 The
wife, not without spirit, answered, “ Hunger has no law.
And, really, would you kill me, your wife, for a fig ? I am
eating it; let us see whether you dare kill me I

She ate the fig, and her husband came down from the tree
and picked up his spear.

1 i drrtfld, Rutstu FaUtlart, p. 9.

1 It u Mfiblrp but wmc wha[ illltpid? and Ml (UMJikmi worth etUElg whtfl
myihing better it to be buL

3 The irlfoh mod graly httiband wad father ii finally Md up la reprabuioa
IQ Iblk-ukt. BcArsaH to ibair food wilh Olfecn u ^ “ MisjeLhmjs »Oni

lEun mere tack of miniiwi-tl il “simply SOI dsne

107

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

11 My fig 1 Where has it gone? Tl he said* pointing the
weapon at her.

She answeredj u I have eaten it.”

He said not another word* but stabbed her. Ah she fell
forward on her knees the baby she waa carrying on her back
stared at him over her shoulder. Ho took no notice, only
saying* <# My children, let us go now, as I have killed your
mother*"

The elder boy picked up his little brother and put him
on his back. The baby, Katubi, looked behind him at the
dead woman and began to cry. His brother sang :

** Hon? can I silence Limbi F
Oh p my dear Kifubi!

Hew can I struct.- Katub* F " 1

The father asked him what he w T as saying, but he said,
41 1 am not speaking; it is only baby crying." The father
said, 14 Let us go on. You shall eat when you got there/ 1
They went on and on, and at last the baby himself began

“ Sin « ; “ silence Katubi!

My brother Jiu htcoirit my mother! ,K

That is, he h carrying him on his back, as his mother had
been doing.

The father heard it, and, thinking it was the cider boy who
sang, said* " What arc you talking about, you little wretch ?

! am going to kill you* What, are you going to tell rales
when we get to your grandmother's ? h 1 The child, terrified,
said, 11 No I I wqi/c say anything I n

Still they wcnton,and the baby kept looking behind him,
and after a while began again :

m 1 Tk* S* irgnificaru ; it mewm: “ Espcw the truth "—EimatJyi

“ Mike the Uitng white / 1 These songs P of which «ch line ii usually repeated Hl
but wrier, in? an rwenbil fcfltUR in the Vtory. Tbe words arc always known to
forne T at arty ntr, of the audkntt, who ting them in charm every tinte they occur.

BLihop Stpert Hp (S'iPaAih Talfi, p. vii) i " fi £i a comtmt ckr^i’trmtjc of

popular nah'frc tila eo have a lort of hurtfefl h which all join art ain^injj- F»-
qurfuly thr ikcklOQ of the atnry aerrns to he tonliiaml in th esc innurhci of lirtg - 1
in ^, which the ITOfy-TcIJcr E-onrwc^ by an c*tcrnporiicd aecoypu of ibe intervening
hiiiory/*

to8

the avenger of blood

41 What i tei of vultures

Over the fig-iree it Md^t^!

Whir n hi q£ vulture*] ”

And he cried again. The father asked, if What arc you
cry mg for? I+ and die boy said that he was not crying; he
was only trying to quiet the b% : The man, looking back,
saw a number ot vultures hovering over the place he had
left, and as he did so he heard the song again:

41 Wfmt a Jot of vultiirti! **

The boy, when asked once more why the ha by was crying,
answered, “ He is crying for Mother I " And the father
said, “ Nonsense I Let us get on. You’re going to see your
grandmother ] "

The same incident was repeated, till the father, in a rage,
turned back and began beating both the children. The boy
asked, “ Arc you going to kill me, as you killed Mother? *'
The furious man shouted, " ! do mean to kill you I ” How¬
ever, he held his hand for the moment, and the boy slipped
past him and went on in front, and presently the baby's
voice was heard again :

** WJlIt h |qt of vulture;] ”

They reached the village at last, and the man exchanged
greetings with his mother-in-law, He seems to have failed
to satisfy her when she inquired after his wife, for, on the
first opportunity, she questioned the little boy; “Now
where has your mother been left? ” The child shook his
head, and did not speak for a while. Then he said, “ Do
you cspect to see Mother? She has been killed by Father—
all for the sake of a wild fruit I 11

At the same moment the baby began to sing:

“ Whai a tar of vulture I*

The grandmother must have been convinced by this
portent, for she questioned the boy no further, but only
said, " Stop, Baby! We are just going to kill your father
also J " She set some men to dig a deep, narrow hole inside
the hut, while she prepared the porridge. When the hole

[□9

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

was ready she had a mat spread over it, and then brought
in the porridge and sent the boy to call his father to supper.
The guilty man came in, saw the mat spread in what
appeared to be the best place, and immediately sat down
on it. The grandmother had large pots of boiling water
ready, and as soon as he had fallen into the hole they poured
it over him and killed him. 1

The significance of this story is emphasized by the fact
that “ the revealer is a little being which might have been
thought to have no notion of right or wrong.” This is still
more strongly brought out—in a somewhat crude fashion—
in Father Torrend’s alternative version, where it is actually
the unborn child which makes its way into the world to
proclaim the father’s guilt.

The same people, the Bwine-Mukuni, have another tale,
which we need not reproduce in full, where a young chief,
killed by his covetous companions, “ was changed into a little
bird with pretty colours,” which, though not merely killed
but burnt to ashes, revives and flies to the house of the dead
man’s sister. Its song has a certain beauty.

A i - ri - re nti-ngi - ni! A i-ri - re nti-ngi-

4 C l

ni! Ka-iu-te-re-nie - nin. ko-ni ka-ka - swa kwi-ro-

nga kvwo-nganja- bo A i-ri - re ntiagL-ni!

1 This mode of execution seems in the folk-tales to be considered appropriate
for aggravated cases of murder, like the above, or as an effectual means of putting
an end to extra-human pests, like the imbulu of the Zulu story referred to in
a previous chapter. In another version, also given by Father Torrend, the man is
speared by his wife’s brothers.

I IO

THE AVENGER OF BLOOD

[Let the big drum roll! (CWau* ; l*rE the In^ dram roll!)

It the wings, che little bird that haa come out from eFic Jeep river*
Freni die great river of God. Let the big drum rotlf]

There are six stanzas. In the fourth Nemba, the chief's
.sister, is called on to begin threading beads for die mourners
to wear. The last verse is as follows:

Lr-r the big drum rail E Lee the big drum roJII
The Luid WhcrcTwaieh'Ehe-wranp*

It h Sat from this plate to which /on have brought me*

Me who have no feet , 1 Lei the big drum roll I

This is explained by Torrend as referring to Bantu
notions of a Future life, and his note may fitly close this
chapter.

The souls, chough 11 ]saving no feet ,* 1 are supposed to go to a
deep river of God* far away, nor a simple mu/mga 14 river," but a
rirsng<r y ” big* deep river,” where God washes the wrongs clean
and where btrds with bealcs all white—tliac is, innocent souls—cry
vengeance against the spilling of MotxL*

1 [ hive frawhcrc cbe seen my itfnrhcc <u thk naEian. b whatever form the
deid we lUppcued » ippeu they ace normally attumed ta bvB Lheir full com¬
plement of limbs, Ii [here a belief that wmr feimU of htrdi in; without E«e f Hi
was former]/ «atd about the bird of Fwfldue J The 11 bird* with white W*ka ‘ i
ire mentioned in [be third verse of the wn^.

* Biialu p. i$.

Ill

CHAPTER VIII: HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

G REAT chiefs, or men otherwise distinguished, whose
memory lives on after many generations, are not only
l-honoured beyond the worship paid to ordinary ghosts,
but become the subjects of many a legend. Some of these
heroes are plainly mythical, others are known to have actu¬
ally existed, and some historical persons have become
legendary without receiving divine honours. One knows
that the genesis of myths is not confined to remote ages;
they may spring up any day, even in civilized countries:
there have been at least three well-known examples within
the last twenty years. I remember being present at a con¬
versation during which, as I believe, a legend was nipped
in the bud. Some Zulus, after consulting together in under¬
tones, asked Miss Colenso, very respectfully, whether it was
true that her father had prophesied before his death that
his house (Bishopstowe, near Pietermaritzburg) would be
burned down. She answered that very likely he might have
said, some time or other, that if due precautions were not
taken a fire might reach the house during the grass-burning
season—which, in fact, actually happened, owing, however,
to a sudden change of wind rather than to any lack of care.

I fear the questioners were disappointed; but one can
imagine how the story would have grown if not discouraged.

The Ox-eater

In the countries to the west of Lake Victoria there is a
cult of a being known as Ryang’ombe, or Lyang’ombe,
concerning whom curious legends are current. His name
means “ Eater of an ox ”; in full it is, in the language of the
Baziba, Kashaija Karyang’ombe, “ the little man who eats
an [whole] ox.” The name is distinctly Bantu, and is con¬
nected with his story. In Ruanda and Urundi, where his
worship is fully developed, it does not seem to be entirely
understood; and another indication of his Bantu origin is
to be found in the fact that the mysteries of Ryang’ombe are
supposed specially to belong to the Bahutu, the Bantu agri-

I 12

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

cultural community’ ■ and, though the Batusi aristocracy
frequently take part in them, there is a, vet}' strict rule that
the reigning chief must never have been initiated into this
particular rite. This seems strange ? as Rehse, writing of
the Baziba, says that Kyang’ombe is 11 the spirit of the
cattle, only venerated by the Bihima.” 1 But there is much
in the whole subject which still awaits investigation. The
Baziba tel! a story which differs considerably from the
Ruanda legend as given by 1\ Arnoux 3 and by Johanssen; 3
but, for all one knows, both may circulate side by side—in
one of the countries at any rate. Some fears of his remind
one strongly of the Zulu Hlakanyana, but the latter is
merely a trickster* and never, so far as 1 know, attained the
status of a national hero, or become an object of worship.
Ryang'ombe, according to this story, 4 spoke before he was
born, and ate a whole ox immediately after his entrance in to
the world. His father told him of a terrible ogre, Ntubugezi,
notorious for killing people; Ryangombe at once made for
the giant's abode, insulted and defied him, and made him
give up eleven head of cattle, which he (Ryang'ombe) swal¬
lowed at oncc. He then attacked another ogre, Ntangaire,
and swallowed him whole, but did not long enjoy his
triumph, for Ntsngaire cut his way out and killed him. In
the Ruanda legend, likewise, Ryang'ombe's mortal career
ends disastrously, though after a different fashion.

Ryang'ombe in Ruanda

The Ban yarn and a give Ryangombe's family affairs in
great detail. His father was Babinga, described as die
° king of the imaniwa ” ; e his mother, originally called
KalimuJore,® was an uncomfortable sort of person, who had

1 Tbc Bahjrcm w the Hftftiilic (niradiLr* who form ihc putorat arhirxxftcy itl
Btignnd^ Btmyoro p md ekewhen* Iji They are c med Batim.

i Arntofc{tm) t nLmL 4 izp-tii. • H.Rdw.JroKp. j 7 t.

* "JTvc imdmftBft Alt a iy.pcrjor ordrt- of spiriti, dlitiaci from the common
herd of ghOfttB, who Us called b&rimv, atad m*tiy thought of u njilrrolenu Ait
the {munJwa *ft fcjinwti by Gimc! j mrnny of I hem ire an cue way Of lEClhfcf ItUttti
To RjjfJut|fGltt tc, and rich luJ has or her own *jtrirUl t a'tuaJL
4 After (he bixth of hrf tan *bc wu ti»wn m NyjWyang'ombc ('Mother of
Ryarr^'ontbe *),

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

the power of turning herself into a lioness, and took to killing
her father’s cattle, till he forbade her to herd them, and sent
some one else in her place. She so frightened her first
husband that he took her home to her parents and would
have no more to do with her. After her second marriage,
to Babinga, there seems to have been no further trouble.
It is not clear how Babinga could have been “ king of the
ghosts ” while still living, but when he died his son,
Ryang’ombe, announced that he was going to take his
father’s place. This was disputed by one of Babinga’s
followers named Mpumutimuchuni, and the two agreed to
decide the question by a game of kisoro ,* which Ryang’ombe
lost. Perhaps we are to understand by the long story which
follows that he passed some time in exile; for he went out
hunting, and heard a prophecy from some herd-lads which
led to his marriage. After some difficulties with his parents-
in-law he settled down with his wife, and had a son, Binego,
but soon left them and returned to his own home.

As soon as Binego was old enough his mother’s brother
set him to herd the cattle; he speared a heifer the first day,
a cow and her calf the next, and when his uncle objected he
speared him too. He then called his mother, and they set
out for Ryang’ombe’s place, which they reached in due
course, Binego having, on the way, killed two men who
refused to leave their work and guide him, and a baby, for
no particular reason. When he arrived he found his father
playing the final game with Mpumutimuchuni. The decision
had been allowed to stand over during the interval, and
Ryang’ombe, if he lost this game, was not only to hand over
the kingdom, but to let his opponent shave his head—that
is, deprive him of the crest of hair which marked his royal
rank. Binego went and stood behind his father to watch
the game, suggested a move which enabled him to win, and
when Mpumutimuchuni protested stabbed him. Thus he
secured his father in the kingship, which, apparently, was
so far counted to him for righteousness as to outweigh all the

1 A game variously known as mankala, mwest*, bao , 01x1/0, etc., and played all over
Africa, either on a board or with four rows of holes scooped in the ground.

114

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

murders he had committed. RyangWibc named him, first
as his second-in-command and afterwards as his successor,
and Binego, as will be seen, avenged his death. Like all the
imandwa t with the exception of Ryang'ombc himself, who k
uniformly kind and beneficent, he is thought of as mis¬
chievous and cruel, and propitiated from mar, especially
when the diviner has declared, in a case of illness, that
Bin ego is responsible. During these ceremonies, and also
in the mysteries celebrated from time to time, certain persona
arc not only recognized as mediums of Ryang’ombe, Bin ego,
or other imaaJwa , hut act ually assume their characters and
arc addressed by their names for the time being.

Ryang'oinbu’s Death

Thu story of his death is as follows.

Ryang'ombc one day went hunting, accompanied by his
sons, Kagoro and Ruh’anga, two of his sisters, and several
otherrmf/ff</wiir. His mothertried to dissuade him from going,
as during the previous night she had had four strange
dreams, which seemed to her prophetic of evil. She had
seen, first, a small beast without a tail; then an animal all
of one colour ; thirdly, a stream running two ways at once;
and, fourthly, an immature girl carrying a baby without a
xgabc. 1 She was very uneasy about these dreams, and begged
her son to stay at home, but, unlike most Africans, who
attach great importance to such things, he paid no attention
to her words, and set out. Before he had gone very far he
killed a hare, which, when examined, was found to have no
tail. His personal attendant at once exclaimed that this was
the fulfilment uf Nyiraryang'ombc's dream, bur Ryang'ombe
only said, *' Don’t repeat a woman's words while we are
after game." Soon after this they encountered the second
and third portents (the " animal all of one colour ” was a
black hyena), but Ryang’ombe still refused to be impressed.
Then they met a young girl carrying a baby, without the
usual skin in which it is supported. She stopped Ryang’ombe

* 'iTifr skin in which in African woman pi it Era 4 baby on lief hide. The Zuliu

all it

*■5

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

and asked him to give her a )Hgobt. He offered her the skin
of one animal after another; but she refused them all, till
he produced a buffalo hide. Then she said she must have
it properly dressed, which he did, and also gave her the
thongs to tie it with. Thereupon she said, " Take up the
childHe objected, but gave in when she repeated her
demand, and even, at her request, gave the infant a name.
Finally^ weary of her importunity, he said, "Leave me
alone 1 " and the girl rushed away, was lost to sight among
the bushes, and became a buffalo. Ry,ing'ombe‘s dogs,
Scenting the beast, gave chase, one after the other, and when
they did not return he sent his man, Nyarwamhali, to see
what had become of them. Nyarwamhali came back and
reported ; " There is a beast here which has ki lied the dogs.”
Hyang ombe followed him, found the buffalo, speared it,
and thought he had killed it, but just as he was shouting his
song of triumph it sprang up, charged, and gored him. He
staggered back and leaned against a tree; the buffalo
changed into a woman, picked up the child, and went away.

At dm very moment when he fell a bloodstained leaf
dropped out of the air on his mother’s breast. She knew
then that her dream had in fact been a warning of disaster;
but it was not till a night and a day had passed that she heard
wliat hail happened. Ryang'ombe, as soon as he knew he
had got his death-wound, called all the imandwa together,
and told first One and, on his refusal, another to go ami call
ms mother and Hi rtego. One after another all refused, except
the maidservant, Nfconzo, who set off at onee, travelling
night and day, till she came to Nyiraryangombe’s house and
gave her the news. She came at once with Bincgo, and
found her son still living, Bincgo, when he had heard the
whole story, asked his father in which direction the buffalo
had gone; having hud it pointed out, he rushed off, overtook
the woman, brought her back, and killed her, with the child,
cutting both in pieces. So he avenged his father.

Ryang’ombe then gave directions for the honours to be
paid him after his death; these are, so to apeak, the charter
of the Kubandwa society which practises the cult of
i to

Imandvva Initiation Ceremony

From "Anthroposby permission of the Rev. Father Schmidt

Mount Sabinyo

Photo J. F. Tracy Philipps

Il6

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

the imandwa. He specially insisted that Nkonzo, as a
reward for her services, should have a place in these rites,
and, accordingly, we find her represented by one of the

? erformers in the initiation ceremony, as photographed by
. Schumacher. Then “ at the moment when his throat
tightened ” he named Binego as his successor, and so died.

Here Ryang’ombe appears as a headstrong adventurer,
whose principal virtue is courage, and it is a little difficult
to gather from his story, as here related, why he should have
been credited with so many good qualities. He shows some
affection for his mother (though not sufficient to make him
consider her wishes) and for his son, and gratitude to the
poor dependent who fulfilled his last request—but that is
all one can say.

Spirits inhabiting Volcanoes

The definition of a myth, as laid down by the Folk-Lore
Society, is : “A story told to account for something ” ; of
a legend: “A story told as true, but consisting either
of fact or fiction, or both indifferently.” The story of
Ryang’ombe would seem to come under both definitions, for
it is certainly (at least in Ruanda—in Kiziba it is more like
an ordinary fairy-tale) told as true, and it is held to account
not only for the kubandwa mysteries (of which P. Arnoux
has given a very full account in the seventh and eighth
volumes of Anthropos), but for certain volcanic phenomena.

The Virunga volcanoes, north of Lake Kivu, are a striking
feature of the Ruanda country. They are among the few
still active in Africa, and there have been several remark¬
able eruptions in quite recent times. It appears that after
his death Ryang’ombe took up his abode in the Muhavura
volcano, the most easterly of the group, where he still lives,
though occasionally migrating to Karisimbi, about midway
between Lake Kivu and the smaller lake, Bolere. The
memory of former eruptions is preserved in accounts of
battles between Ryang’ombe and his enemy, Nyiragongo,
who then lived in Mount Mikeno. Ryang’ombe, with his
fiery sword, cleft this mountain from top to bottom, and

117

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

drove Nyiragongo westward to the mountain which still
hear-? his name. lie then cut off the top of this peak with
his sword, threw Nyiragongo Into it, and piled hot stones
on him to keep him down. One is reminded of Enceladus,
buried under Etna hy Zeus.

The other imandu,!, Ryang'ombe’# relatives and de¬
pendents, are supposed to be living with him in Muhavura.
As already mentioned, they arc, in the main, spiteful and
mischievous, and a great part of his energy is devoted to
keeping them within bounds. The inferior ghosts, the
iHizimu, are by some said to haunt their former dwelling-
places ; others say that the good ones—f hose who during

their lifetime were initiated into the kn&tjndwii mysteries_-

go to join Ryang’ombc in Muhavura, while the ‘ profane r
^y ]ra §ongo. J 1 his notion may lie due to
the Hamitic invaders, as the ides of a future state of rewards
and punishments is, in general, foreign to Bantu thought.
The absence of any really moral distinction (‘ good ’ being
simply synonymous with 1 initiated f ), coupled with the
recent date of the earliest missions to Ruanda, would nega-
t]Ve the supposition of Christian influence*

Names Common to Ruanda and Buganda

Before quitting the subject of Ryang’ombe I should like
to call attention to an interesting point. Dr Rnscoe, writing
of Buganda, speaks of “ the fetish LyangWibc,” * but gives
no details about him. In the absence of any further informa¬
tion it is impossible to determine whether the name alone
was carried from Ruanda into Kiziba, and thence into
Buganda, whether it was accompanied by any elements of
t e original story, or whether a fresh one grew up in its new

1 Arttfmpti (ipiz), ml. vii.

^'TL' £ '* 4, Th “ which anihroparn^rt, are now

b> " - )r Rt ’’“ e 11 [JlC BlrraJIy, 1 n horn/

ESS to “I flEkd With chirm* c/ aU tom and

SSSli ’h*£t ^ ™ ] t n *’ &f ^ Tbe

on W™ h,lr “ f L )f i "S ' ,mbe> " " |,r,M1 ° r N.mba/T," md «

W M ^ I.yantf'ombe/- n it k tbr Iwn,

liid w ,pmi, wh.ch a rh* ■ fcihh'_ lf ,hai W be

[ I V

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

home. It is evident that some, at any rate, of the Ruanda
myths, if they were ever heard, would be speedily forgotten
in a country with no active volcanoes.

Then there is Mukasa. In Buganda he is the most im¬
portant of the 4 gods ’— i.e.> heroes or demi-gods, originally
ghosts, and quite distinct from Katonda, the creator, prob¬
ably also from Gulu, the sky-god. He has much the same
character as Ryang’ombe in Ruanda, being 44 a benign god,
who never asked for human life,” and, perhaps, a man of
old time, deified on account of his benevolence. But the
Banyaruanda make Mukasa the son-in-law of Ryang’ombe,
and so far from being of a kindly disposition that his wife
died of his cruel treatment. He was, curiously enough, the
ferryman on the Rusizi, the river which runs out of Lake
Kivu into Tanganyika. The story of his marriage seems
to be connected with some traditional hostility between two
sections of the Ruanda people.

Another point to notice is that the ‘mediums’—people
possessed by the ‘gods’ ( balubale ), through whom they give
their oracles—are called in Luganda emandwa , which, as
mentioned above, is the name for the superior class of spirits
in Ruanda.

Culture-heroes

Dr Haddon says : 44 The term hero is usually applied to
one who stands out from among ordinary mortals by his
. . . conspicuous bravery or sustained power of endurance

. . . but [also by] inventiveness, moral or intellectual quali¬
ties, or the introduction of new cults.” 1 This might apply
to Ryang’ombe. 4 Culture-heroes ’ are those who have done
anything 44 to improve the conditions of human existence.

I suppose we might reckon among these the Thonga chief
who taught his people to peg out hides on the ground in
order to dress them. The earlier process was for a number
of men to stand round, hold the edges of the hide in their
teeth, and lean back till it was sufficiently stretched. It is
not clear how far this is to be taken seriously, but we have

1 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. vi, p. 633.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

a distinct culture-hero in Kintu, who brought goats, sheep,
fowls, millet, and the banana into Bug ami a. Several tribes
have a legend of a mighty hunter who came Into the country
with trained dogs and, like Theseus, cleared out dangerous
wild beasts or fought with monsters. Such was Mbega of
the WakHindi, whom we shall meet in the next chapter.

Such also was Kibwebanduka, the tribal hero of the
Wnzaramo, who led them from Khutu to their present home
(probably about f 700 ), and drove out the cannibal Akamba,
who were then occupying it , 1 It is said that his footprints
and those of his dog are sti II to be seen on a rock somewhere
in Khutu, to the north-west of the Xaramo country. The
Baziba have a similar hero, Ktbi, who came from Bunyoro.

Sometimes animals figure as culture-heroes; one of the
hare’s many adventures turns on this notion, though some¬
times the game story is told of an unnamed man or boy, who
combines his benefits with flagrant cheating. One example
of this, though not the best or moat typical, occurs in the
story of Hlakanyana (told in Chapter XI, below). Mean¬
while the tale of Sudika-Mbambi will serve to illustrate what
has just been said. It comes, like that of “ The Son of
Kimanaweze," given in Chapter V, from Angola.*

Sudika-Mbambi the Invincible

Sudika-Mbambi was the son of Nzua din Kimanaweze,
who married the daughter of the Sun and Moon. The
young couple were living with Nzua's parents* when one
day Kimanaweze sent his son away to Loan da to trade. The
son demurred* but the father insisted, so he went. While
he was gone certain cannibal monsters, called makiiht,
descended on the village and sacked it—ail the people who
were not killed fled. Nz.ua, when he returned, found no
houses and no people; searching over the cultivated ground,
he at last came across his wife, but she was so changed that

- 1 do noi kliGW whi^hjf’r lh*r^ U i&y Wfirranl for (hii ^ircussl k)Q the

Atuntu. Cinnitdliuii h irgjfded with horror by the Hut African i.nbrt in
fiznetal, liuUuyh WTDc wf them air very siot thill ihclr JbCtfihbotin pnciije it. For
Ki b wt hackth] Vn. §« Klanvr?th< in ZtitK^n/tftir XiaiwdaftfwAtn t p* 44.

1 ChatrJjjn, fall-tal rj of p. flj.

I 20

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

he did not recognize her at first, “ The makuhi have
destroyed us,” was her explanation of what had happened.
They seem to have camped and cultivated as best they
could; and in due course Sudika-Mbambi (' the Thunder¬
bolt ’) was horn. Like others who will be mentioned later,
he was a wnmlcr-chikl, who spoke before his entrance into
the world, and came forth equipped with knife, stick, and
11 hi.s kiismht **—a * mythic plant,' explained as 11 life-tree,”
which he requested his mother to plant at the back of the
house. Scarcely had he made his appearance when another
voice was heard, and his twin brother Kabundungulu was
bom. The first thing they did was to cut down poles and
build a house for their parents. Ryang’ombe and (as we
shall see) Hlakanysna were similarly precocious, but their
activities were of a very different character. Soon after this
Sudika-Mbambi announced that he was going to fight the
makishi. He told Kabundungulu to stay at home and to
keep an eye on the kUtmht: it it withered he would know
that his brother was dead ; he then set out. On his way he
was joined by four beings who called themselves kipaltnda
and boasted various accomplishments—building a house on
the bare rock (a sheer impossibility under local conditions),
carving ten clubs a day, and other more recondite operations,
none of which, however, as the event proved, they could
accomplish successfully. When they had gone a certain
distance through the bush Sudika-Mbambi directed them
to halt and build a house, “ in order to fight the makbhi."
As soon as he had cut one pole all the others needed cut
themselves. Heordered the tdfalende who had said he could
erect a house on a rock to begin building, but as fast as a
pole was set up it fell down again. The leader then took
the work in hand, and it was speedily finished.

Nest day he set out to fight the makhAi t with three
kiptilendeii leaving the fourth m the house. To him soon
after appeared an old woman, who told him that he might
marry her granddaughter if he would fight her (the grand¬
mother) and overcome her. They wrestled, but the old
woman soon threw the kipaiesde, placed a large stone on top

121

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

of him as he lay on the ground, and left him there, unable
to move.

Sudika-Mbambi, who had the gift of second-sight, at once
knew what had happened, returned with the other three,
and released the jktpalende. I le told his story, and the others
derided him for being beaten by a woman. Next day he
accompanied the rest, the second kipatende remaining in the
house. Nodetails art: given of the fighting with the makis/ti,
beyond the statement that “ they are firing." 4 The second
kipahndc met with the same fate as his brother, and again
Sudika-Mbambi was immediately aware of it. The incident
was repeated on the third and on the fourth day. On the
fifth Sudika-Mbambi sent the kipalendcs to the war, and
stayed behind himself. The old woman challenged him;
he fought her and billed her—she seems to have been n
peculiarly malignant kind of witch, who had kept her grand¬
daughter shut up in a stone house, presumably as a lure for
unwary strangers. It is not stated what she intended to do
with the captives whom she secured under heavy stones, but,
judging from what takes place in other stories of this kind,
one may conclude that they were kept to be eaten in due
course.

Sudika-Mbambi married the old witch's granddaughter,
and they settled down in the stone house. The hi puli tides
returned with the news that the makishi were completely
defeated, and all went well for a time.

Treachery af the Kipnlendes

f he kipalendes, however, became envious of their leader’s
good fortune, and plotted to kill him. They dug a hole in
the place where he usually rested and covered it with mats;
when he came in tired they pressed him to sit down, which
he did, and immediately fell into the hole. They covered
it up, and thought they had made an end of him. His
younger brother, at home, went to look at the * life-tree,’
and found that it had withered. Thinking that, perhaps,

1 JlirOUFili I tie Pf.riugune occuplIiQU (dtfjng From I he sixteenth century)
Kum nouM he f-irntlwr object! to the Anyah native?.

IZ1

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

there was still some hope, he poured water on it, and it grew
green again.

Sudika-Mbambi was not killed by the fall; when he
reached the bottom of the pit he looked round and saw an
opening. Entering this, he found himself in a road—the
mad, in fact, which leads to the country of the dead. When
he had gone some distance he came upon an old woman, or,
rather, the upper half of one, 1 hoeing her garden by the way¬
side, Ho greeted her, and she returned his greeting. He
then asked her to show him the way, and she said she would
do so if he would hoe a little for her, which he did. She set
him on the road, and told him to take the narrow path, not
the broad one, and before arriving at Kalunga-ngombe’s
house he must '* carry a jug of red pepper and a jug of
wisdom,” * It is not explained how he was to procure these,
though it h evident from the sequel that he did so, nor how
they were to be used, except that Kalunga-ngonibe makes
it a condition that anyone who wants to marry his daughter
must bring them with him. We have not previously been
told that this was Sudika-Mbambi’s intention. On arriving
at the house a fierce dog barked at him ; he scolded it, and
it Jet him pass. He entered, and was courteously welcomed
by people who showed him into the guest-house and spread
a mat for him. He then announced that he had come to
marry the daugh ter of Kal u nga-ngom be. Katanga an swered
that he consented if Sudika-Mbambi had fulfilled the eon-
ditions. He then retired tor the night, and a meal was sent
in to him—-a live cock and a bowl of the local porridge
(fttirji). He ate the porridge, with some meat which he had
brought with him ; instead of killing the cock he kept him
under his bed. Evidently it was thought he would assume
that the fowl was meant for him to eat (perhaps wc have here

» HrJf-bciftgi arr wry ttQUDQn to African folklore, bul they are uiuallj ojillt
Icngiltitoiya, having One lyr, one arm, one leg, and sum. Thi« CMC 1 thought
be ijuile unique, but have ilncB U« acroai none thing of the UffiC «Qlt in a
maniiKript from NymalantL

1 Whit is mekm hy " af wisdom " if not efcaf* hi|l my likely it if Pwly
a nonscHK ftir (Itenkt of ihc puns if red Pepper, *nd

*duifgr * wadom. ■

raj

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

a remnant of the belief, not known to or not understood by
the narrator of the story, that the living must not eat of the food
of the dead), and a trick was intended, to prevent his return to
the upper world. In the middle of the night he heard people
inquiring who had killed Kalunga’s cock; but the cock crowed
from under the bed, and Sudika-Mbambi was not trapped.

Next morning, when he reminded Kalunga of his promise,
he was told that the daughter had been carried off by the
huge serpent called Kinyoka kya Tumba, and that if he
wanted to marry her he must rescue her.

Sudika-Mbambi started for Kinyoka’s abode, and asked
for him. Kinyoka’s wife said, “ He has gone shooting.” 1
Sudika-Mbambi waited awhile, and presently saw driver-
ants approaching—the dreaded ants which would consume
any living thing left helpless in their path. He stood his
ground and beat them off; they were followed by red ants,
these by a swarm of bees, and these by wasps, but none of
them harmed him. Then Kinyoka’s five heads appeared,
one after the other. Sudika-Mbambi cut off each as it came,
and when the fifth fell the snake was dead. He went into
the house, found Kalunga’s daughter there, and took her
home to her father.

But Kalunga was not yet satisfied. There was a giant fish,
Kimbiji, which kept catching his goats and pigs. Sudika-
Mbambi baited a large hook with a sucking-pig and caught
Kimbiji, but even he was not strong enough to pull the
monster to land. He fell into the water, and Kimbiji
swallowed him.

Kabundungulu, far away at their home, saw that his
brother’s life-tree had withered once more, and set out to
find him. He reached the house where the kipalendes were
keeping Sudika-Mbambi’s wife captive, and asked where
he was. They denied all knowledge of him, but he felt
certain there had been foul play. “ You have killed him.

1 This need not mean that we must suppose Kinyoka to have been other than
a real serpent. Readers of “ Uncle Remus ” will not need to be reminded that
animals in folk-tales perform all sorts of actions which would be quite impossible
if their real character were strictly kept in view.

124

HEROES AND DEMI-GOD5

Uncover the grave/ 1 They opened up the pit, and
Kabundungulu descended into it* lie met with the old
woman, and was directed to Kalunga-ngombc s dwelling.
On inquiring for his brother he was told, " Kimbiji has swal¬
lowed him/ 3 Kabundungulu asked for a pig, baited his
hook, and called tile people to his help. Between them they
landed the fish* and Kabundungulu cut it open. He found
his brother's bones inside it, and took them out- Then he
said, “ My elder, arise I '* and the bancs came to life,
Sudika-Mbambi married Kalunga-ngombc/s daughter, and
set our for home with her and his brother. They reached
the pit, which, it would seem, had been filled in, for we are
told that “ the ground cracked/ 1 and they got out. They
drove away the four kipdkndis —one is surprised to learn
that they did not kill them Out of hand—and, having got rid
of than* nettled down to a happy life*

But the end of the story is decidedly disappointing,
Kabundungulu felt that he was being unfairly treated, since
his brother had two wives, while he had none, and asked
for one of them to be handed over to him* Sudika-Mbambi
pointed out that this was impossible, as he was already
married to both of them, and no more; was said for the time
being* But some time later, when Sudika-Mbambi returned
from hunting, his wife complained to him that Kabundungulu
was persecuting them both with his a t Editions. This led to
a desperate quarrel between the brothfirs* and they fought
with swords, but could not kill each other* Both were
endowed with some magical power, so that the swords would
not cut, and neither could oe wounded. At last they got
tired of fighting and separated, the elder going cast and the
younger west. The narrator adds a curious sentence to the
effect that Sudikn-Mbambi is the thunder in the eastern
sky and Kabundungulu the echo which answers it from
the west.

Nature-myths of this sort, so far as 1 am aware, occur
very rarely, if at all, among the Bantu* and 1 am inclined
to doubt whether this conclusion really belongs to the
story* ^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU
The Wonder-child

Many Bantu tribes have a talc which may well come
under this heading. It has points of contact with those of
Slid ika-M bam hi (though the main theme is quite different)
and Ryang'omlie on the one hand and, on the other, with
the tricksters Huveane ami Hlakanyana, The hero—always
a wonder-child, like Ryang'ombeand Hlrtkanyuna—is called
by the Yaos Kalikabmje, by the Anyanja Kachiranibe, by the
Hehe Galinkalanganye, 1 by the Baron ga Mu tipi (in another
story Mutikatika), and by the Lambas kantanga. They all
have the following points jn common :

A woman gets into difficulties—usually when alone in the
bush—and is helped by an ogre, a demon, or an animal (in
one case a hyena; in another a lion), on promising to hand
over to this being the next child to which she gives birth.

The birth takes place with unusual circumstances, and
the child shows marvellous precocity.

The mother, about to hand him over to the devourcr,
finds him too sharp for her, and devises one stratagem after
another, which he always defeats.

Finally the ogre (or other enemy) is killed.

The opening incident varies considerably in the different
stories, in one the woman cannot lif t her load of firewood
by herself; in another it is her water-jar, with wdiich her
companions unkindly refuse to help her (in both these cases
the birth is expected very shortly); others introduce the
episode (which also occurs in several quite different stories)
of the woman sent out by her husband to look for water in
which there are no frogs. In the Angola story of Na Nana
the mother has a craving fur fish, which can only be satisfied
by her promising the child, when born, to the river-spirit
LukaJa. Except in the above particular, this story differs

1 This, fn>rn vimtu indication!, would sarin ki It like fu/in wTicuei* the preced¬
ing ewo ire derived. It Ei'kioi ’ 1 tin* tim.- who * .a It** I ■ I ovtr I he li re w
1 ra«/ ' tccfth ■), because m won m tic Wtt horn he tatd hi* mother ID put him
cn i poubeni and hold him ihc firr. Thsj may be connected with i cuiiom
of -pissing Dew-barn iubn through the imokc. i hc Vm xUEHC bu the ume
nmnwgi but in iljfTemiily cspLained. KaeAimmbi, in Npnja, hiu no mcamng
ippllablr la (he ?iory L
126

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

markedly from the rest. That of Kachirimbe/ agai n, has an
entirely different opening, and is altogether so curious that
it may well he related here.

Kachiramhe of the Anyanja

Some little girls had gone out into the bush to gather
herbs. While they were thus busied one of them found a
hyena's egg s ant! put it into her basket. Apparently none
of the others saw it ; she told them, somewhat to their
surprise, that she had now picked enough, and hastened
home. After she was gone the hyena came and asked them,
" Who has taken my egg? ” They said they did not know,
but perhaps their companion who had gone home had carried
it off. Meanwhile the girl’s mother, on hud mg the cog in
her basket, had put it on the fire. The hyena arrived and
demanded the egg; the woman said it was burnt, but offered
to give him the next child she had to eat. Apparently this
callous suggestion was quite spontaneous on her part; but
as there was no child in prospect just then she probably
thought that the promise was quite a safe one, and that by
the time its fulfilment became possible some way out could
be found. The hyena, however, left her no peace, waylaid
her every day when she went to the stream tor water, and
kept asking her when the child was to be produced. At
last he said, “ If you do not have that child quickly I will
eat you yourself." bhc went home in great trouble, and
soon after noticed a boil on her shin-bone, which swelled and
swelled, till it burst, and out came a child.* He was fully
armed, with bow, arrows, and quiver, had his little gourd
of charms slung round his neck, and was followed by his

J RattraY, Stiff FM-hrt Staritt Old « OtWnwjJ, p- »$J- .

* Then u no attempt at rapLunnJj; (tail, mill ( him WD no othrr mention °*
n hyena * egg. Hut th» animal «, i» popular W&tf, *J abnormal that anylhmi;

may hr nwrtfd of it. _ ,

i Thi. rt,an« incident hai irvera] panOtl* ih-ioijb 1 ** "“f?

in connexion with iW* particular »tory. I be Wjk.U|»»e (1 angwtyik*
uy itaat the fin! woman brought forth 1 child in <hi* way, and the [nnn- )
N’Lldi have a UuIMmi ihu ttaeir *vl MMtW ir» an old man Who prodaeed
i boy and a eirE from (J» calf of hJ* Ictfs

J 127

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

dogs 1 He announced himself in these words; *' I, Kachi-
rambe, have come forth, the child of the shin-bone I "
The mother was struck with astonishment, but it does not
seem to have occurred to her to go back on her promise.
When next she went to draw water and the hyena met her
with the usual question she replied, " Yes, I have home a
child, but he is very clever ; you will never be able to catch
him, but I myself will beguile him tor you. 1 will tie you up
in a bundle of grass, and tell Kachirambe to go and fetch it.”
So she tied up the hyena in a bundle of the long grass used
for thatching, and left it lying beside the path. Kadi framin',
when Sent to fetch it, stood still a little way off, anti said,

^ ou, bundle, get up, that I may lift you the better 1"
And the bundle of grass rose up of itself, finch i ram be said,

“ What sort of bundle is this that gets up by itself? 1 have
never seen the like, and I am not going to lift it, not 11 "
So he went home.

The hyena, after releasing himself from the grass, came
back and said to the woman, “ Yes, truly, that youngster
of yours is a sharp one I ” She told him to go in the evening
and wait in a certain place; then she called Kachirambe
and said, L ‘ 1 want you to set a trap in such and such a place
for the rats; they have been destroying all my baskets/’
Kachirambe went and chose out a large, flat stone; then he
cut a forked stick, and whittled the cross-piece and the little
stick for the catch, and twisted some bark-string, and made
a falling trap, of the kind called diwc) t and set and baited it.

In the evening his mother said to him, 11 The trap has
hdlen. Go and sec what it has caught I ” He said, " You,
trap, fall again, so that I may know whether you have caught
j 1 rat! ” The hyena, waiting beside the trap, heard him,

♦5 i f st ' one| ? ll< ^ HU with a bang. Kachirambe
said, What sort of trap is it that falls twice? 1 have never
seen such a one.”

Next the mother told the hyena that she would send
Kachirambe to pick beans. The boy took the basket and
went to the field, but then he turned himself into a fly, and
rhe hyena waited in vain. Kachirambe returned home with
128

HEROES AND DEMI-GODS

a full basket, to his mother’s astonishment. She was nearly
at her wits’ end, but thought of one last expedient; she sent
him into the bush to cut wood. The night before he had
a dream, which warned him that he was in great danger,
so he took with him his bow, and his quiver full of arrows,
and his ‘ medicine-gourd,’ as well as a large knife. He
climbed up into a tree which had dead branches, and began
to cut. Presently he saw the hyena below, who said, “ You
are dead to-day; you shall not escape. Come down quickly,
and I will eat you 1 ” He answered, “ I am coming down,
but just open your mouth wide 1 ” The hyena, with his
usual stupidity, did as he was told, and Kachirambe threw
down a sharp stick which he had just cut—it entered the
hyena’s mouth and killed him. Kachirambe then came down
and went home ; when drawing near the house he shot an
arrow towards it, to frighten his mother, and said, “ What
have I done to you, that you should send wild beasts after me
to eat me?” She, thoroughly scared, begged his pardon, and
we are to suppose that he granted it, for the story ends here.

Galinkalanganye was not so forgiving; he contrived to
change places with his mother after she was asleep, and it was
she who was carried off by the hyena. Similarly, Mutipi s
mother was eaten by the lion to whom she had promised her
son, and Kalikalanje himself killed his mother, after he and
his companions had shot Namzimu (the demon who had
come to claim him). The tricks devised for handing over
these lads to the enemy, and the stratagems by which they
are defeated, vary in the different stories, but the bundle of
grass appears in every one, and also in that of Huveane.

129

CHAPTER IX i THE WAKILINDI SAGA

A SAGA is defined by one authority as *' a series of
legends which follows in detail the lives and ad¬
ventures of characters who are probably historical."
We are therefore quite right in applying this name to the
stories related about the high chiefs of Usambara, who are
certainly historical characters, though perhaps not all of the
adventures attributed to them ever really took place.

Usambara is one of the most beautiful countries to be
found in Af rica—a land of rocky hills and deal 1 streams, of
woods and fertile valleys. The upland pastures feed herds
of cattle and countless docks of sheep and goats; the bottom
lands and even the hill-slopes are carefully cultivated and
bear abundant crops of plantains and sugar-cane, rice and
maize and millet. The first European to visit this country
was Kmpf, the missionary, who walked overland from
Rubai in J 848 , and was overjoyed at the thought of planting
a mission in such a little paradise. The paramount chief,
Kimweri, received him hospitably, and consented to give
him a piece of ground to build on, though circumstances
prevented this plan from being carried out till the arrival
of the Universities* Mission, some twenty years later.
Krapf was greatly impressed, not only by the scenery and
the abundant resources of the country, but by the evidences
of order and good government which met him on every
side.

This Kimweri, who died at a great age in 1869 , seems to
have been the fifth of his line. Its founder is described as
an Arab who came from Pemba to the Zigula country and
built his house on the hilj Kilindi, in the district of Nguu,
or Nguru, Here he settled down, married more than one
wife, and had a numerous family. One of his wives, seem¬
ingly the youngest, or, at any rate, the latest married, had
two sons, of whom the younger 15 the Shambala national
hero, Mbega. 1

1 TJw* main wnurcc of rfoii SJnatirt is a 5wnhHi wnt'pfi lay fhe Iju

Abddlah bin Hcmedl* and printed m (hr l.'riivcnilin' Milton, Majplii.

■JO

The Grave m « ^l■^ f

rtrt, i* ciwt &**

S^l'LLi rlF RhLATIVES S* * RjjC X-$Ht ITI*
ff R. r*i/ p i^wFir ChpWm# im

THE WAKJLINDI SAGA

Mbega, a Quid of Ill-omen

M bcga would, in ordinary circumstances, have had short
shrift, for he cut his upper teeth first, and such infants
arc, by most of the Bantu, considered extremely unlucky.
Indeed, so strong is the belief that if allowed to grow up
they would become dangerous criminals that in former times
they were invariably put to death. At Raimi, on the now
forsaken site of the old fortified village on the hill-top, a
steep declivity is pointed out where such til-omened babies
were thrown down. It must have been the rarity of this
occurrence that caused it to be regarded as unnatural, and
SO produced the belief. M bega's parents, however, no doubt
because his lather despised such pagan superstitions (he
must have been a Moslem, though his sons did not follow
his faith), paid no attention to this custom, but on the con¬
trary took every care of him, and he grew up strong and
handsome anti beloved by every one, except his half-brothers,
the sons of the other wives. Their hostility could not injure
him as long as his father lived, but both parents died while
he was stiff a youth. He had a protector, however, in his
elder brother, “ his brother of the same father and the same
mother "—a tie always thus carefully specified in a poly¬
gamous society. But this brother died, and the rest took on
themselves the disposal of his property, which—along with
ihe guardianship of the widow and children—should natur-
ally have passed to Mbega. They did not even summon
him to the funeral.

When all the proper ceremonies had been performed and
the time came lor ” taking away the mourning,” which
means slaughtering cattle and making a feast for the whole
dan, at, or after, which the heir is placed in possession, all the
relatives were assembled, but not the slightest notice was
taken of the rightful heir. Mbega, naturally, was deeply
wounded—the record represents him as saying, “ Oh, that
my brother were alive ! I have no one to advise me, notone;
my father is dead, and my mother is dead I " So he went
his way home, and wept upon his bed (rt£tf//rt kiw»dam pufc),
and was ready to despair.

* 3 [

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Mbega shut out from his Inheritance

The brothers chose the son of a more distant kinsman to
succeed to the property am) marry the widow, and handed
over to him the dead man's house and a share of his cattle,
dividing the rest among themselves, Mbega, hearing of
this, as he could not fail to do, consulted with the old men
of the village, and sent them to his brothers and the whole
clan, with the following message i M Why do they not give
me my inheritance? Never once when one of the family
died have they called me to the funeral. What wrong have
I done?"

When the messengers had finished speaking ** those
brothers looked each other in the eyes, and every man said
to his fellow, ‘ Do you answer.’ ” At last one of them spoke
up and said, '* J .isten, ye who have come, and we will tell
you. That Mbega of yours is mad. Why should he send
you to us instead of coming himself? Tell him that there
is no man in our clan named Mbega. We do not want to
see him or to have anything to do with him.”

The old men asked what Mbega had done, that they
should hate him SO, and the spokesman replied that he was a
sorcerer (mcha-tti) who had caused all the deaths that had
taken place in the clan. Anyone might know that he was not
a normal human creature, since he was a kigego who had cut
hi« upper teeth first; but his parents had been weak enough
t« conceal the fact and bring him up like any other child.
He went on to say that when Mbega s mother died lie
and the others had consulted a diviner, who told them
that Mbega was responsible (a cruel slander on a most
affectionate son), and they hail represented to their father
that he ought to be killed, ” but he would not agree through
his great Jove for him.” Now that Mbega*s parents and his
own brother were no more they would take things into their
own hands, since, it let alone, he would exterminate the
whole clan. They did not wish to have his blood on their
hands, but let him depart out of the country on peril ol his
iife,^ and, as ior the messengers : " Do not you come here
again with any word from Mbega.” They replied, with the

THE WAKILINDI SAGA

quiet dignify of aged councillors, “ We shall not come again
to you/' So they returned to Mbega, who received them
with the usual courtesies and would not inquire about their
errand till they had rested and been fed and had a smoke*
Then they told him all, and he said, 11 I have heard your
words and theirs, and in truth 1 have no need co send men
to them again* I, too, want nn dealings with them.”

Mbega, a Mighty Hunter

Now Mbega, though hated by his near kinsmen, was
beloved by the rest of the tribe, more especially the young
men, whom he Look with him on hunting expeditions and
taught the use of trained dogs, then a novelty in the country.
His father, no doubt, had brought some with him from
Pemba* The name of Mbega's own favourite dog,
Chamfumu, has been preserved. The chronicler adds:
“ This one was his heart/ 1 It docs not seem clear whether
this phrase merely expresses the degree of his affection for
this particular dog, or whether there is some hint^that
Mbcga’s life was bound up with him* 1 his idea of the
totem animal as “external soul' was probably not strange
to the old-time Washambala, but Abdallah bin Hemedi
might well fail to understand it, and nothing of the sort
appears anywhere else in the story*

The land was sorely plagued with wild beasts, which
ravaged the flocks and destroyed the crops* We hear most
of the wild swine, which still, in many parts ot l:.as£ Africa,
make die cultivator’s life a burden to him. Mbegaand his
band of devoted followers scoured the woods with the dogs,
put a stop to the depredations of the animals, and supplied
the villagers with meat.

When" Mbcga's messengers had reported the answer re¬
turned by his brothers he called his friends together told
them the whole story, and informed them that he would
have to leave the country* They asked where he was going,
and he replied that he did not know yet, but would find out
by divination, and would then call them together and cake
leave of them*

133

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Wc are given to understand that Mbega was highly
skilled in magic—white magic, of course-nan d this may
have Tent some colour to his brothers’ accusations. If the
expression he used on this occasion {*' 1 am going to use
the sand-board 1f ) is to be taken literally it seems to refer
to the Arab method of divining by means of sand spread on
a board, the knowledge of which Mbega's father may have
brought with him from Pemba.

The young men protested against the notion of his leaving
them, and declared that they would follow him wherever he
went. He was determined not to allow this, knowing it
would cause trouble with their parents, but said no more
till he had decided on his course. He then consulted the
oracle, and determined to direct his steps towards Kilindi,
where he was well known. Neat day, his friends being
assembled, he told them he must leave them. He would
not tell them where he was going, in case they should lie
asked by his brothers. They were very unwilling to agree
to this, insisting that they would go with him, but were
persuaded at last to give way. He sent for alt his dogs and
distributed them among the young men, keeping for him-
self seven couples, among them the great Chamfumu,“who
was his heart. He also gave them his recipes for hunting-
inagic, in which, to this day, most natives put more faith than
in the skill of the hunter or the excellence of his weapons.

Mbcga goes to Kilindi

WCnt forth. Carrying his Spears, large and small,
i , dog-bells, and his wallet of charms, and, followed
by his pack, came on the evening of the second day to the
gate of Ktlindi town. It was already shut for the night, and,
though those wtthm answered his call, they hesitated to
a rrut him til] he had convinced them that he was indeed
Mbega oi Nguu, the hunter of the wild boar. Then the
gate was thrown open, and the whole town rushed to wel¬
come him, crying, " It is he I It is he I " They escorted
him to the presence of the chief, who greeted him warmly,
assigned him a dwelling, and gave orders that everything

A 7.V i t Doctor AV!i PhTlkSlT
/'LA V^i-ir Mu . mi

THE WAKIL1NDI SAGA

possible should be done to honour him. " So they gave him
a house, with bedsteads and Zsgula mats "—about all that
was usual in the way of furniture-—and when all the people
summoned for the occasion had gone their several ways
rejoicing Mbega rested for two or three days.

He remained at Kilindi for many months, and not only
cleared the countryside of noxious beasts, but secured the
town by his magic against human and other enemies. lie
possessed the secret of raising such a thick mist as to render
it invisible to any attacking force, and could supply charms
to protect men and cattle from lions and leopards. He seems
also to have had some skill as a herbalist, for we are told that
he healed the sick. In these ways, and still more u because
he was he/' he made himself universally beloved. The
chiefs son, in particular, who insisted on making blood-
bretherhood with him, worshipped him with all a youth s
enthusiasm.

Death of the Chiefs Son

As time went on all this wild pigs in the immediate
neighbourhood of Kilindi were killed or driven away, and
the cultivators had peace ; but one day it was reported that
there was a number of peculiarly large and tierce ones in a
wood two or three days* journey distant. Mbega at once
prepared to set out, and the chiefs son wished to go
with him. Mbega was unwilling to take the risk, and his
companions all tried to dissuade the young man, but he
insisted, and they finally gave way, on condition of his
getting his father’s leave. The father consented, and he

joined the party. . . ,

The pigs, when found, were indeed fierce: it is said they
*' roared like lions.” The dogs, excited beyond their wont
by a stimulant Mbega administered to them, were equn )
fierce, and when the hunters rushed in with their spears
some of them were overthrown in the struggle and others
compelled to take refuge in trees, A number of pigs were
killed, but five men were hurt, and when the ground was
cleared it was found that the chiefst son was dead.

'3J

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

There could be no question of returning to KHindi;
Mbega knew he would be held responsible for the lad's
death, and for once was quite at a loss. When the others
said, "What shall we do ? " he answered, “ I have nothing
co say; it is for you to decide." They said they must
fly the country, and as he, being a stranger, did not know
where to go they oflered to guide him. So they set out
together, fifteen men in all (the names often among them

have been preserved by tradition), with eleven dogs_it

wonJtf seem that three had perished in the late or some other
encounter with the wild boars. Their wanderings, recorded
sn detail, ended in Zirai, on the borders of Usambara, where
they settled for some time, and Mbeira’s fame snr«H

Uiambara) sent and invited him to become their chief,
and he ruled over the whole country and was renowned
for h(s 9ki)l in magic, and his kindness, and the comeliness
of his face, and his knowledge of the law ; and if any man
was pressed for & debt Mbega would pay it for him." He
married a young maiden of Bumburf, and no doubt looked
forward to spending the rest of his life there. But he had
reckoned without the men of Vuga.

Mbega called to be Chief of Vuga

Vuga, the most important community of Usumbura, had
for some time been at war with the' hillmen of Fare.
lhc headman, furi, having heard reports of Mbcea’s
great powers, especially as regards war-marie. first sent

THE WAKILINDI SAGA

since it is so hut that we cannot greet each other comfortably."
For it was the season of the kashtzi, the north-cast monsoon,
when the sun is at its iifreest.

The Vuga men were astonished at receiving this message,
but very soon they saw a mist rising, which spread till it
became a great cloud and quite obscured the sun, Mbcga
had filled his magic gourd with water and shaken it up;
then taken a fire-brand* beaten it on the ground till the
glowing embers were scattered, anti then quenched them
with the water from the gourd. The rising steam formed
the cloud, and the Vugs. elders were duly impressed.

When, at last, they saw him face to face they felt that all
they had been told of him was true, so comely was his face
and s« noble his bearing, Turi explained why he had
come, and after the usual steps had been taken fur enter¬
taining the guests Mbega agreed to accept the invitation on
certain conditions. These chiefly concerned the building
of his house and the fetching of the charms which he had
left in charge of his Kilindt friends at their camp in the
bush. These were to be taken to Vuga by a trusty messen¬
ger and hidden at a spot on the road outside the town,
which he would have to pass.

Everything being agreed upon, Mbega went to inform hia
father-in-law, and ask his leave to take away his wife—-an
interesting point, as indicating that the tribal organization
was matrilineal. It should also be noted that the father-in-
law, while consenting for his own part, said that his wifi,
must also be consulted. She, however, made no dimculiy,
*■ but I must certainly go and take leave of my daughter. _
Mbcga than bade farewell to the ciders of Bumbun,
insisting that he did not wish to Jose touch with them and
enjoining on them to send word to him at V uga of any
important matter. Hl- wanted his wife’s brother to accom¬
pany him, so that she might not feel cut off from ail her
relative#; also four of the old men. . ,

The party set out, travelling by night and resting by
day, when Mbega sacrificed a sheep and performed various
' secret rites,' which he explained to his brother-m-law.

*37

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

On the following morning they reached the place where the
charms had been deposited, and the man who had hidden
them produced them and handed them over to Mbega,
who gave them to his wife to keep. They camped in this
place for the day, and when night came on a lion made his
appearance. The men scattered and fled ; Mbega followed
the lion up and killed him with one thrust of his spear.
When his men came back he gave most careful directions
about taking off and curing the skin, for reasons which will
appear later. They then set out once more, and reached
Vuga by easy stages early in the morning. The war-drum
was beaten, and was answered by drums from the nearest
hills, and those again by others from more distant ones,
proclaiming to the whole countryside that the chief had
come. And from every village, far and near, the people
thronged to greet him. His house was built, thatched, and
plastered according to his instructions, and when it was
finished he had cattle killed and made a feast for the workers,
both men and women. He then sent for the lion-skin, which
meanwhile had been carefully prepared, and had it made into
a bed for his wife, who was shortly expecting her first child.

Soon after she had taken her place on this couch Turi's
wife was sent for, and, she having called the other skilled
women to attend on the queen, before long the cry of
rejoicing, usual on such occasions, was raised. All the
people came, bringing gifts and greetings, and Mbega had
a bullock killed, and sent in some meat for the nurses. His
first question to them was whether the birth had taken place
on the lion-skin ; when informed that it had he asked whether
the child was a boy or a girl. They told him that it was a
boy, and he asked, “ Have you given him his 4 praise-name 1
yet? 991 They answered that they had not done so, where¬
in * crm is jinalamzaha, translated by Madan, in his Swahili dictionary,

as nickname, but the meaning is really the same as the Zulu isibongo, an honorific
title. Its use caused some heart-burnings in a later generation, when two branches
of the family quarrelled. Stanley, in 1871, had some trouble with a kind of
brigand called Simba Mwene, who had a fortified stronghold on the road to
Unyanyembe, but this man, I believe, was in no way connected with the Wakilindi,
and had assumed the title with no right to it.

138

THE WAKILINDI SAGA

upon he said that the boy's name was to be Si mbs, the Lion,
SUid by this name he was to be greeted. Mbega’s original
name—the one first given him in. his childhood—wa3
Mwenc, hence his son was to be greeted as Simba (son) of
Mwene, which became a title handed down in the male
line of the dynasty- But the name officially bestowed on
the boy, at the usual time, was Huge.

As soon as the child was old enough his mother's kinsmen
claimed him, and he was brought up by his uncles at
Rumburi—another indication of mother-right in Usambara.
M beg % afterwards married at least one ocher wife, and had
several sons, but Bilge's mother was the * Great Wife,' and
her son the heir. When he had arrived at manhood his
kinsmen at Bumburi asked Mbega’s permission to install
him as their chief, which was readily granted. The lad
ruled wisely, and bade fair to tread in his father’s footsteps.
Hta younger brothers, as they grew up, xvere also put in
charge of districts, ruling as Mbega’s deputies; this Con¬
tinued to be the custom with the Wakilindi chiefs, who also
assigned districts to thrir daughters,

Mhega’s Death and Burial

Now it came to pass that Mbega fell sick, but no one
knew it except five old men who were in close attendance
on him. His failing to appear in public created no surprise,
for he had been in the habit, occasionally, of shutting himself
up for ten days at a time and seeing no one, when it was
given out that he was engaged in magic, as was, indeed, the
use. His illness, which was not known even to his sons,
lasted only three days, and the old men kept his death secret
for sonic time. They sent messengers to Bumburi by night
to tell Bugc that his father was very id and had sent for him.
He set off at once, and, on arriving, was met by the news
that Mbegn was dead. The funeral was carried out
secretly—no doubt in order to secure the succession by
having Buge on the spot before his father’s death was known.
First a black bull was killed and skinned and the grave lined
with its hide ; then a black cat was found and killed and a

139

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

boy and a girl chosen who had to lie down in the grave, side
by side, and Stay there till the corpse was lowered into it.
This, no doubt, was a symbolical .act, representing what in
former times would have been a human sacrifice. When
the corpse was laid in the grave the two came out of it, and
were thenceforth tabu to each other : they were forbidden
to meet again as long as they 1 ived. Then the cat was placed
beside the dead man and the grave filled in.

All this was done without the knowledge of the people in
the town. The elders agreed to install Huge as successor
to his father, and his wife was sent for from Bumhuri. She
arrived in the early morning, and at break of day the drums
were sounded, announcing the death of the chief, and Huge
sacrificed two bullocks at his father’s grave. Then he was
solemnly proclaimed as chief, and his younger brother
Kimweri took his place at Bumburi.

Mboza and Magembe

Hugo’s reign was a short one; when ho died Shebuge,
the son «>f his principal wife, was still under age. He had,
by another wife, a son, Magembe, and a daughter, Mboza,
somewhat older than her brother. She was a woman of
considerable ability and great force of character, as is
apparent from the fact that the elders consulted her about
the succession. She advised them to appoint Kimweri,
keeping her own counsel as to further developments, for she
was determined that her own full [mother, Magembe, should
succeed him.

Kimweri died after a reign of eight years, and was buried
with the same rites as his father and brother, Mboza
hurrying on the funeral without waiting for her brothers.
Shebuge and Magembe, unable to arrive in time, sent cattle
for the sacrificial feast. Mboza summoned a council of
the ciders, and gave her vote in favour of electing Magembe
to the chieftainship, to which they agreed. She then said
that in her opinion the mourning had lasted long enough,
and they should now end it with the usual feast, after which
she would go home to Mwasha and — when the proper
140

THE WAKILINDI SAGA

number of days had passed—send the herald (mho) with
orders for the warriors to go and fetch the chief (zumbe)*

Now word was brought to Shebuge at BoJangai that
Magembe was about to be proclaimed chief of Yuga by his
sister Mboza. He made no protest, but contented himself
with saying that he certainly intended to claim his share of
his father’s treasure, and to call himself, henceforward, not
Shebuge, but Kinyash This he explained to mean: “ I
walk alone ; I have no fellow.”

When six months had passed Mboza sent word that the
ii/nrn (as die Zulus would say, “the King’s kraal 1 *) was
to be made ready, and messengers sent to fetch Magembe
from Mulungui, where he lived. When she heard the
signal-drums announcing his arrival she would set out for
Vutja with her people. So far all her plans hid worked
smoothly, as no one dared oppose her," for she was a woman
of a fierce spirit and feared throughout the country, because
of her skill m magic.” Hut now she met with a check: her
messengers, on their way to Mulungui, were intercepted by
Shebuge Kinyasi's maternal uncles, who induced them to
delay while they them selves started for Balangai and con¬
ducted their nephew in triumph to Vuga. The messengers
reached Mulungui, and set out on the return journey with
Magembe, but always, without knowing it, a stage behind
his rival. When, with the dawn, they reached Kihiru the
royal drums crashed out in the town, and, marching on,
they were further perplexed by hearing the shouts of
Mhn ! Mbo^o! (' Buffalo I'), with which the multitude were
greeting the new chief. They were speedily enlightened by
people coming from the town. Magembe, as soon as he
knew that matters were finally settled, left Usambara m
disgust, never to return ; but this comes a little liter in the
story; for the moment the chronicler is more concerned
with Mboza.

Thar princess left Mwasha as soon as the boom ot the
great drum was heard, and by midday had halted at the
villages just outside Vuga, when she heard from some people
returning from the town, who stopped to greet her, the name

141

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

of the now chief. She at once sent for the elders and some
of the principal men. Let them come hither to the gate,
that I may' question them I ’* The men delivered their
message to the Mlugu, 1 who asked : “ Why so? Can she
not enter the town and greet the chief? ” Whereto the
reply was brief and sufficient: “ She docs not wan t to do so.”

So they all went out and found her standing in the road,
staff in hand, her sword girt about her and her kerrie slung
over her shoulder, and they greeted her, but she answered
not a word. At last she spoke and said, " Who is the chief
who has entered the town? ”

And the Mlugu answered, “ It is Shebuge Kuiyasi of
Bajangai. 1 ' Said Mboza: "Whose counsel was this?
When I called you, together with all the men of your
country, and said to you, men of Vuga, 1 Let us now all of
us choose the chief,’ we chose Magembe. Who, then, has
dared to change the decision behind my back? ”

Mboza emigrates and founds another Kingdom

They explained what had happened, and, once it had been
made clear fo her that Shebuge had already entered the
%/n, 1 she knew the matter was past remedy, and shook the
dust of Vuga from her feet, sending back to Shebuge**
uncles a message which the bearers could not understand,
hut took to be a curse, and were filled with fear accordingly.
Shebuge, however, paid no heed to it.

Mboza, with her husband, her three suns and two
daughters, her servants, and her cattle, left at once for
Mshihwi, the husband's home country. There she founded
a new settlement, which she called Vuga, as a rival to her
brother's town. The local inhabitants were very ready to
welcome her, and to all who came to greet her she distributed
cattle and goats and announced her intentions : “ 1 sec this
my son Shebuge as chief in this my town, and he shall be

' J \ i ik (ilk ii KtTiicuiiK* nrndend * Prince."

1 P nl P rr b* BUBioletim of the chief), which it placed is ■ ipeci*l

hut within thr rod trial. When the new chief ha* betn mlrodunrd imo thtfh in
the tii Ur* 1 of lib cnC&Uitkm, hi-l appoint ment it i-rpniiri iwd IpiyOfui recall- When
itr-inl I hat thii hid safeeD pin Mb uul k nrw ihjt her rac WA» hyjUfiraa.

I 4 2

Charms used in the Lamba Country for preventing I heft
from Gardens

Photos Dr Clement M. Doke

THE WAKILINDI SAGA

greeted as ' Lion Lord,’ I ike as his uncle at Vuga." She thus
founded a rival line, and when, in the course of years, she
felt her end approaching she straidy charged all her children
never to set loot in the original Vuga, or to be induced, on
any pretext, to enter into friendly relations with their kins¬
men [here. To her eldest son she left all her charms, and
imparted to him her secret knowledge, to lie made use of
In case of war—such as the magic for raising a mist and the
charms for turning back the enemy from the town. Her
last words to him were an injunction to keep up the feud
for ever, " you and your brothers, your sons and your
grandsons.”

Shebuge’s Wars and Death

Shebuge Kinyasi, for his part, was little disposed towards
conciliation, and the two Vugas were soon at war, which
continued till his attention was claimed in other directions.
Unlike his grandfather, Mbcga, who is not extolled as a
warrior, but as a great hunter and a general benefactor to
his people, Shebuge was ambitious to distinguish himself
as a conqueror. He was successful for a time, making
tributary, not only all the districts now included in Usam~
bara, but the Wadigo and other tribes as far as the coast
at Pangani, Tanga, and Vangs. The Wazigula, however,
refuseef to submit to him, and in a fight with them he was
cut off with a few followers and overpowered by numbers.

“ They let off arrows like drops of rain or waves in a storm.
And Shebuge was hit by an arrow, and he died.”

Next morning, when the WariguJa came to pick up the
weapons of the slain, they found a man sitting beside
Shebuge's body, He drew his bow on the first man who
approached him and shot him dead, and so with the next
and the next, but at last the rest surrounded him and
seized him, and asked, ” Who art thou ? And he said,

“ I am Kivava, a man overcome with sorrow and cornpas-
sion” They said, “ Wherefore are thy compassion and thy
sorrow?” He answered, “ In your battle yesterday my
chief was slain.” They asked him, " What chief?

143

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

He told them ; " In yesterday's fight She huge died,
My fellows fled, but, as for me, I had sworn a free man's
oath: this Shebuge who is dead was my friend at home;
I bade farewell to my comrades} but, as for me, I cannot
leave Shebuge. If I were to go back to Vuga, how
should I face Shebuge’s children, and his wives? My life
is finished to-day. I was called J the Chiefs Friend *—
I can no longer bear that name. It is better that 1 too
should die as Shebugc has died."

They declared that they did not want to kill him, and
turned to leave, but he, to provoke them, shot an arrow after
them and hit the Zigula chiefs son. Then at last they
seized him, and he said, " Slay me not elsewhere, only on
this spot where Shebuge is lying,” So they slew him and
left him there. And when they reached their village they
told to all men the tale of Shebuge s friend, who kept troth
and loved him to the death.

The fugitives of She huge's host, who meanwhile had
reached the Ruvu river, heard the news on the following
day ; they gathered together and returned to the battlefield,
which was quite deserted by the enemy. They made a
bier and took up Shebuge's body and laid him on it, and
so brought him back to Vuga for burial. And his son
Kimweri succeeded him.

From thenceforth it was fixed that the chiefs of Vuga
should bear the names of Kimweri and Shebuge in alternate
generations. This Kimweri is he who was mentioned at
the beginning of the chapter and is usually known as M the
Great." With him we have definitely passed into the light
of history, as known to Europeans—and there we may leave
the Wakilindi.

144

CHAPTER X: THE STORY OF LIONGO
FUMO

B ISHOP STEERE wrote, in [869 ? that “the story of
Liongo is the nearest approach to a bit of real history
l was able to meet wiEh. It is said that a nistfer pf
Liongo came to Zanzibar, and that her descendants arc still
living there." 1

Since reading these words l have been informed that there
is now at Mombasa a family ot the Shaka clan and tribe
claiming descent from Liongo Kumo. Even apart from
this* there seems every reason to believe that he had a real
existence, though some mythical elements have been in¬
corporated into his legend.

ShiiJca, which gives its natne to one of the thirteen tribes
or, as they are more usually called, matai/a) of Mom¬
basa, was a small principality at the moiiEh of the Ozi river*
founded in very early times by colonists from Persia* The
ruins of Shaka may still be seen not very far from the present
town of Kipini, and another group of ruins, somewhat
nearer it, goes bv the name of frann&gtta w# Masi the
noblemen of the Shahs / 1 The rulers of Shaka, to whose
family JLiongo Funio belonged, bore the Persian title or
Shah.

Liongo Fumo, Poet and Bowman

Shaka was conquered by Sultan Omar of Pate, whose
dates are variously given, but he seems to have been more or
less contemporary with our Edward III, one authority even
putting him as early as 1306. It is therefore safe to say
that Liongo flourished during the twelfth century if not
earlier, ft is true that one informant said to me, Liongo
warred with the Portuguese,” which would put him not
earlier than the sixteenth century* but this is not supported

by the general weight of authority. „ „ .

Liongo's grave was pointed out to me at Kipim m i<M*.
also the site of the wdl outside the city gate which plays a
l $*uaAiK Taki r f* *J-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

part in his story, arid even the exact spot where he met his
death. Most people, there and at l -amu, knew, at any rate,
the song which is handed down as having been sung by him
in prison, and almost anyone you met, Swahili or Fokomo,
could tell you hi» story.

Many poems attributed to him circulate in manuscript
among educated Swahili, and some are recited from memory
even by the illiterate, it was two poor labourers, working
on a cotton plantation, who showed me I.iongo’s grave and
were evidently quite familiar with the story. One of the
poems was printed by Steere at the end of his Swahili 3W«,
with an English translation and a rendering into modern
Swahili supplied by a native scholar at Zanzibar. As a
rule, the language in which they are written is to a Swahili
much as Chaucer's English is to US.

Liongo, as we have seen, was of the house of the Shaka
" Mashah,” but, though the eldest son, could not succeed
his father, his mother having been one of the inferior wives.
He seems, however, to have been in every way more able
than his brother, the lawful Shah Mringwari. His extra¬
ordinary stature and strength, his courage, his skill with the
bow, and his poetical talents have been celebrated over and
over again in song and story. The Pokomo fisher folk tell
how he conquered them and imposed on them the 14 tribute
of heads '*—that is to say, from every large village two boys
and two girls, from every small village one of each. Also
how he was 11 a tall man ” (niunfu muyeya) and very' strong,
and once, leaving Shaka in the morning, walked to Gars (at
or near the present Chan)—about two days'journey each
way—and returned the same day.

Liongo and his brother were not on good terms. By
whose fault the quarrel began we are not told, but it is quite
conceivable that the elder, kept by no fault of his own out of
a position which he considered his due, and which he was
more competent to fill than Mringwari, chafed under a sense
of injustice, which embittered his already overbearing
temper. It does not appear that, like Absalom, he stole the
hearts of the people, for Mringwari had always been the
14 S

THE STORY OF LIONGO FUMO

more popular of the two, and Li on go's high-handed ways
soon made him hated ; yet he always had some to love him.
Like Napoleon, he seems to have had a gift that way, which
he exercised when he chose. Among the poems attributed
to him is the tender Patti kiti :

Give me a chair that I miiy sJt down

And aoo&Ee my

That i may soothe my wife.

Who tikes aw iy my fpriefand twines^ 1 + * *

Anyhow, the enmity between the two went so far that
Liongo attempted Mringwari's life.

The "Hadithi JOT Liongo ”

A poem of uncertain date (not supposed to be written by
him, but telling his story) relates how certain Gulltt, coming
to Pate to trade, heard of Liongo from the sultan, who dwelt
so much on his prowess that their curiosity was aroused, and
they expressed a wish to sec him. So he sent a letter to
Liongo at Shaka, desiring him to come. Liongo replied
" with respect and courtesy ” that he would come, and he
set Out on the following day, fully armed and carrying three
trumpets . 4 The journey from Shafca to Pate was reckoned
at four days, but Liongo arrived the day after he had started.
At the city gate he blew' such a blast that the trumpet was
split, and the GaJla asked, " W hat is itr W ho has raised
such a cryf” He answered, "It is Liongo who has

come I" , . ,

Liongo sounded his second trumpet, and burst it; he
then took the third, and the townsfolk a!l ran fogetJier s the
Gaik among them, to sec what this portended. He then
sent a messenger to say, *' Our lord Liongo asks leave to
enter.” The gate was thrown open, and he was invited in,
all the Gaik being struck with astonishment and terror at the
sight of him. " This is a lord of war,” they said ; “ he can
put a hundred armies to flight.”

He sat down, at the same time laying on the ground the

* Scccn'a mnit.Liion, in toasto/i p. 473-

> PtmOt, probably of iv^y, like il* mar of Item, mil m «****-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

wallet which he had been carrying. After resting awhile
he took out from it a mortar and pestle, a millstone, cooking-
pots of no common size, and the three stones used for sup¬
porting them over the fire . 1 The Galla stood by, gaping
with amazement, and when at last they found speech they
said to the sultan, 44 We want him for a prince, to marry one
of our daughters, that a son of his may bring glory to our
tribe.” The sultan undertook to open the matter to Liongo,
who agreed, on certain conditions (what these were we are
not told), and the wedding was celebrated with great re¬
joicing at the Galla kraals. In due course a son was born,
who, as he grew up, bade fair to resemble his father in
strength and beauty.

It would seem as if Liongo had been living for some time
at Pate (for he did not take up his abode permanently with the
Galla)—no doubt as a result of the quarrel with his brother.
But now some one—whether an emissary of Mringwari’s or
some of the Galla whom he had offended—stirred up trouble ;

14 enmity arose against him,” and, finding that the sultan
had determined on his death, he left Pate for the mainland.
There he took refuge with the forest-folk, the Wasanye
and Wadahalo. These soon received a message from Pate,
offering them a hundred reals (silver dollars) 2 if they would
bring in Liongo’s head. They were not proof against the
temptation, and, unable to face him in fight, planned a
treacherous scheme for his destruction. They approached
him one day with a suggestion for a kikoa , 3 since a regular
feast—in their roving forest life — 44 is not to be done.” They
were to dine off makoma (the fruit of the Hyphaene palm),
each man taking his turn at climbing a tree and gathering
for the party, the intention being to shoot Liongo when they
had him at a disadvantage. However, when it came to his

1 This poet describes Liongo as a giant, on the scale of Goliath of Gath. The
Galla—who as a rule are tall men—** only reached to his knees.** But most accounts
speak of him merely as an ordinary human being of unusual stature and strength.

2 Of course a touch inserted by some comparatively recent writer or copyist.

3 Defined by Madan as '* a meal eaten in common provided by each of those
who join in it by turns.** The one in the story was repeated as many times as there
were people taking part.

I48

THE STORY OF LIONGO FUMO

turn, having chosen the tallest palm, he defeated them by
shooting down the nuts, one by one, where he stood. This,
by the by, is the only instance recorded of his marksman¬
ship, though his skill with the bow is one of his titles to
fame,

Liongo escapes From Captivity

The Wasanyc now gave up in despair, and sent word to
the sultan that Liongo was not to be overcome either by
force or guile. He, unwilling to trust them any further,
left them and went to SJiaka , 1 where he met his mother and
his son. His Galla wife seems to have remained with her
people, and wr hear nothing from this authority of any other
wives he may have had. Here, at last, he was captured by
his brother's men, seized while asleep—one account says :

" first having been given wine to drink " ■ it was probably
drugged, fie was then secured in the prison in the usual
way, his feet chained together with a post between them, and
fetters on his hands. He was guarded day and night by
warriors. There was much debating as to what should be
done with him. There was a general desire to get rid of him,
hui some of MringwarPs councillors were of opinion that he
was too dangerous CO be dealt with directly: it would he
better to give him the command of the army and let him
perish, like Uriah, in the forefront of the battle. Mnngwan
thought this would be too great a risk, and there could be
none in killing him, fettered as he was.

Meanwhile Liongo* mother sent her slave-girl Saada
every day to the prison with food tor her son, which the
guards invariably seized, only tossing him the scraps.

Mringwari, when at last he had come to a decision, sent
a slave-lad to the captive, to tell him that he must die in
three days' time, but if he had a last wish it should be
granted, 11 that you may take jour leave of the world.
Liongo sent word that he wished to have a gurtgu dance per¬
formed where he could sec and hear it, and this was granted.

1 Pile, in the poertl I have hrn quoting IjcW, but till II incrrovitollt Vfith ihr
fimW ilrvc’lcijtmdnt of ibe nirmli^.

149

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

He then fell to composing a song, which is known and sung
to this day:

O thou handmaid Saada, list my words to-day!

Haste thee to my mother, tell her what I say.

Bid her bake for me a cake of chaff and bran, I pray.

And hide therein an iron file to cut my bonds away.

File to free my fettered feet, swiftly as I may;

Forth Pll glide like serpent’s child, silently to slay.

When Saada came again he sang this over to her several
times, till she knew it by heart—the guards either did not
understand the words or were too much occupied with the
dinner of which they had robbed him to pay any attention
to his music. Saada went home and repeated the song to her
mistress, who lost no time, but went out at once and bought
some files. Next morning she prepared a better meal than
usual, and also baked such a loaf as her son asked for, into
which she inserted the files, wrapped in a rag.

When Saada arrived at the prison the guards took the
food as usual, and, after a glance at the bran loaf, threw it
contemptuously to Liongo, who appeared to take it with a
look of sullen resignation to his fate.

When the dance was arranged he called the chief per¬
formers together and taught them a new song—perhaps one
of the “ Gungu Dance Songs ” which have been handed
down under his name. There was an unusually full
orchestra: horns, trumpets, cymbals ( matoazi ), gongs
(tasa) y and the complete set of drums, while Liongo himself
led the singing. When the band was playing its loudest
he began filing at his fetters, the sound being quite inaudible
amid the din; when the performers paused he stopped
filing and lifted up his voice again. So he gradually cut
through his foot-shackles and his handcuffs, and, rising up in
his might, like Samson, burst the door, seized two of the
guards, knocked their heads together, and threw them down
dead. The musicians dropped their instruments and fled,
the crowd scattered like a flock of sheep, and Liongo took
to the woods, after going outside the town to take leave of
his mother, none daring to stay him.

r 5°

THE STORY OF LIONGO FUMO

Lion go undone by Treachery at last

Here he led an outlaw's life, raiding towns and plunder¬
ing travellers, and Mringwarf was at his wits’ end to compass
his destruction. At last Liongo’B son—or, as some say, his
sister's son 1 — was gained over and induced to ferret out
the secret of Liongo's charmed life, since it had been dis¬
covered by this time that neither spear nor arrow 1 could
wound him. The lad sought out his father, and greeted
him with a great show of affection; but Liongo was not
deceived. He made no difficulty, however, about revealing
the secret—perhaps lie felt that his time had come and that
it was useless to fight against destiny. When his son said
to him, after some hesitation, " My father, it is the desire
of my heart—since 1 fear danger for you—that I might
know for certain what it is that can kill you,” Liongo re¬
plied, " I think, since you ask me this, that you are seeking
to kill me." The son, of course, protested : “ I swear by
the Bountiful One I am not one to do this thing ! lather,
if you die, to whom shall 1 go? I shall be utterly destitute."

Liongo answered, " My son, I know how you have been
instructed and how you will be deceived in your turn. Those
who are making use of you now will laugh you to scorn, and
you will bitterly regret your doings 1 i et, though it be so,

1 will tell you 1 That which can slay me is a copper nail
driven into the navel. From any other weapon than this
1 can take no hurt." The son waited two days, and on
the third made an excuse to hasten back to Pate,* saying
that he was anxious about his mother’s health. Mringwari,
on receiving the information, at once sent for a cratts-
man and ordered him to make a copper spike of the
kind required. The youth was feasted and made much of

• US* near" l rtiltfkm acid rightful heir, in Bantu UJige ; but thii would net be
the cue in Mtnfent law. B hrlher Arab or fcrrtian.afld IPl .m.UHti call life traitor

bii »t>, rhi. ™ [be pfmoMof wu of '■■<= GliJj Wc ^ °/ * ° lb(r
children‘ yet therr rmjit hav* baa more if St rt true that there are dirttft drirttidlim

<*f hii new living. . ., . ,

1 Lienee MM to hive tern living tmmotrvted for tWM tinve at ia .
be may haw rallied tome follower* u» hi* raujr, while Mtmgww, apparently, bad
tv treated la Pate.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

for the space of ten days, and then dispatched on his errand,
with the promise that a marriage should be arranged for him
when he returned successful. On arriving at Shaka he was
kindly welcomed by his father (who perhaps thought that,
after all, he had been wrong in his suspicions), and remained
with him for a month without carrying out his design—
either from lack of opportunity or, as one would fain hope,
visited by some compunction. As time went on Mringwari
grew impatient and wrote, reproaching him in covert terms
for the delay. “ We, here, have everything ready ”—/.<?.,
for the promised wedding festivities, which were to be of the
utmost magnificence. It chanced that on the day when this
letter arrived Liongo, wearied out with hunting, slept more
soundly than usual during the midday heat. The son, seiz¬
ing his opportunity, screwed his courage to the sticking-
place, crept up, and stabbed him in the one vulnerable spot.

Liongo started up in the death-pang and, seizing his bow
and arrows, walked out of the house and out of the town.
When he had reached a spot half-way between the city gate
and the well at which the folk were wont to draw water his
strength failed him: he sank on one knee, fitted an arrow
to the string, drew it to the head, and so died, with his face
towards the well.

The townsfolk could see him kneeling there, and did not
know that he was dead. Then for three days neither man
nor woman durstventurenearthewell. They used thewater
stored for ablutions in the tank outside the mosque; when
that was exhausted there was great distress in the town.
The elders of the people went to Liongo’s mother and asked
her to intercede with her son. “ If she goes to him he will
be sorry for her.” She consented, and went out, accom¬
panied by the principal men, chanting verses (perhaps some
of his own poems) “ with the purpose of soothing him.”
Gazing at him from a distance, she addressed him with
piteous entreaties, but when they came nearer and saw that
he was dead she would not believe it. “ He cannot be
killed; he is angry, and therefore he does not speak; he
is brooding over his wrongs in his own mind and refuses to
152

THE STORY OF LIONGO FUMO

hear me 1 ” So she wailed ; but when he fell over they knew
that he waa dead indeed.

They came near and looked at the body, and drew out
the copper needle which had killed him B and carried him
into the town* and waked and buried him. And there he lies
to this day, near Kipini by the sea.

The Traitor's Doom

The news reached Fate, and M ring war i, privately re¬
joicing at the removal of his enemy, sent for Mani Liongo,
the son (who meanwhile had been sumptuously entertained
in the palace), and told him what had happened, professing
to be much surprised when he showed no signs of sorrow.
When the son replied that, on the contrary, he was very

{ jlad M ring war i turned on him. *’ You arc an utterly faith-
ess tme ! Depart out of my house and from the town ; take
off the clothes I have given you and wear your own, you
enemy of Got! I " Driven from Pate, he betook himself to
his Galta kinsmen, but there he was received coldly, and
even his mother cast him off. So, overcome with remorse
and grief, he fell into a wasting sickness and died □lamen ted.
The Pokomo tradition has it thatLtongo^ enemies, having
made use of the son for their own purposes, slew him, fur
they said, “ If you kill a snake you must cut off its head,
if you do not cut off its head it will bite again. Therefore
it is better to kill this son also ! fl Himisi wa Kayi, who told
the story to Bishop Steere at Zanzibar, said, ‘ 4 And they
seized that young man and killed him, and did not give him
the kingdom. 1 * In any case he reaped the due reward of
his treason.

The mourning for Liongo, in which the townsfolk of
Shaka joined with his mother, shows that she was not alone
in the more favourable view of him. 11 Liongo was our
sword and spear and shield \ there is none to defend us now
he is gone [ ”

The grave, as I saw it in 19 12, was a alight elevation in
the ground, which might once have been a barrow. It was
roughly marked at the head and foot with rows of white

*53

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

stones, evidently remnants of a complete rectangle. The
native overseer in charge of the plantation in which it was
situated told me that he and the European superintendent
had measured the grave some time before, and found its
length from east to west to be “ fourteen paces ”—some
twelve or fourteen yards, suggesting that Liongo might,
indeed, have been a giant whose knees were level with the
head of a tall Galla. He and others said that the grave
had formerly been marked with an inscribed stone “ seven
hundred years old ”—but some European had dug it up and
taken it away. As far as I know it has never been traced.
So much for Liongo. With all his faults he had

The genius to be loved, so let him have

The justice to be honoured in his grave.

The idea of the charmed life, protected against every
weapon but one, or vulnerable in one point only, is familiar
from European mythology (Balder, Siegfried, Achilles), but
it is still a matter of living belief in Africa. Chikumbu, a
Yao chief living on Mlanje in 1893 , could, I was assured,
be killed by one thing only—a splinter of bamboo; he had
* medicines ’ against everything else. A generation or two
earlier Chibisa, a chief of the Mang’anja, was proof against
everything but a * sand-bullet,’ which killed him as he stood
on an ant-hill shouting his war-song.

Since writing this chapter I have found a curious parallel
in a Rumanian ballad which is quoted in Panait Istrati’s Les
Haidoucs. The brigand Gheorghitza, who could be killed
in one way only, was shot with a silver bullet, by a close
friend turned traitor, “ in the seat of the soul ” («« peu
au-dessus du nombril , ou cela fait mal aux vaillants). He
seized his gun, leaned against a rock, and took aim at his
false friend, but death came upon him as he knelt. For
three days none durst come near him; then one Beshg Elias
went up to the body, cut off the head, and carried it to
Bucharest. And all who met him wept when they saw the
head of Gheorghitza, “ so beautiful was he 1 ”

154

CHAPTER XI: THE TRICKSTERS
HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

W E find two curious figures in the mythology of the
South-eastern Bantu. Huveane belongs to the
Bapedi 1 and B.ivenda, in the Eastern TransvaaL
We have met with him before, as the First Man (though,
incongruously enough, we also hear about his father) and,
in sonic sense, the creator ; but, as was stated at the time,
he also appears in a very different character, HJakanyana
plays a conspicuous part in Zulu folklore; he no longer
belongs to mythology proper, being more on the level of
Jack the Giant-killer and Tom rhumb in our own fairy¬
tales. But there seems to be some uncertainty a bout his real
nature. One of his names is Ucakij.ina, which means the
Little Weasel, and though the people who told his story to
Bishop Calkway explained this by saying he was like a
weasel for his small size and his cunning, it may well be that
he had actually been an animal to begin with. Some of his
adventures are exactly the same as those which by other
Bantu tribes are ascribed to the hare, the really epic figure
in their folklore, and the authentic ancestor of Uncle
Remus's Brer Rabbit. It is quite possible, though I do not
know of anv direct evidence for this, that he was originally
a totem animal, and, as such, a mysterious power, like the
Algonkin hare, in North America, who made the world.

As for Huveane, his name Is a diminutive of Huye (or
Hove)—a name given in some accounts to his father.
Some of the Bushman tribes have a divinity Huwe (or Uwe)
who created and preserves all wild things, and to whom they
pray to give them food. In Angola Huwc (represented, of
course, By a masked man) is said to appear to the young
Bushmen when they are being initiated into manhood.

It might be thought that the Bantu had borrowed the idea
ofHuve, if not of fluvcanc, from the Bushmen; but Miss
BIcek, who knows more about the Bushmen than anyone

1 A branch of (he great Su.io-miu.vu croup of tribe*, Pretoria and

Pkrcreburjt- Hty are ptrhapi truer kuovu U Sctokuni 3 pcujUr,

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

elsCi is of opinion, for several reasons, that the reverse is
more likely to be true.

The name of Huvranc’s father varies a good deal; some
call him Hodij others, again, Rlvimbi or LevivL The
Thnnga 1 clans in the Spelonken district of the Transvaal
have heard of him in a very confused and fragmentary way,
probably from the Baveitda, but it is the latter, along with
the Bapcdi, who reaJly know the legend,

Huveme produce a Child

Of this legend there arc various versions, none apparently
complete, but they can be used to supplement each other.
One, obtained from the Mascmola section of the Bapedi, 1
begins in a way which recalls the story of Murlle* Only
whereas Mu rile cherished a Cvkctisid tuber, which magically
developed into an infant, Huveane is quite baldly Stated to
have l+ had a baby." The narrutor Seems to see nothing
improbable in this (though Huveane*s parents and their
neighbours did), and no explanation is given of this extra¬
ordinary proceeding; but the Basuto have a story resembling
this in which Ehe result is produced by the boy having swal¬
lowed some medicine intended for his mother. Another
version has it that Huveane modelled a baby in day and
breathed life into it. This may possibly have some vague
connexion with the idea of his having originated the human
race; it may, on the other hand, be due to some echo of
missionary teaching*

The creation idea had 3 no doubt, fallen more or less into
the background by the time the story had taken shape as
above; but in any case one must not be troubled by such
incongruities as the existence of Huveane*s parents. The
impossibility of such a situation would never occur to the
primitive mind.

Huveane kept his child in a hollow tree* and stole out

1 TV rrLl*?nf which ih c Uth^a Bay Bamritfa ire a hor.ch. They «tcnd From
St I.urifl 0by t In the iouih F l& the Sabi nrer p in the north. Scioie cliol Gl' the BiU
ot'ihr tribe, mw kflOurn U Magwambi!aptimlitEif In the East™ l^UHTliL
• Hartmann, in ZtOxArift fir voL vr p |i, 3^S +

156

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

early every morning to feed it with milk before it WAS time
for him to begin herding the sheep and goats. His parents
noticed that he used to rake the milk, and could not make
out what he did with it; so one day his father followed him
stealthily, saw him feeding the child, hid till Huvcane had
gone away, and carried the baby to his wife. They then placed
it among the firewood and other things stacked up under
the eaves of the hut. When Huvcane brought the Hock
home he went straight to his tree and found no baby there.
He went into the courtyard, sat down by the fire, where his
parents were seated, and did not Speak, only looking miser-
able. His mother asked him what was the matter, and he
said the smoke was hurting his eyes. “ Then you had better
go out and sit somewhere else. 1 ’ lie did so, but remained
gloomy. At last his mother told him to go and letch a piece
of wood from the pile, which he did, and found the baby
wrapped in a sheepskin and quite safe. His parents, relieved
to find that he had recovered his spirits, let him have his
way, and he went on caring for the child, whom he called
Sememerwane sa Matcdi a I cicle, 11 One who causes much
trouble.’*

Huvcane plays Tricks with the Stock

His parents continued, however, to be uneasy; they could
not understand how the child had been produced, and the
neighbours, when the story leaked out, began to talk of
witchcraft. Huvcane did not trouble himself, but went on
herding his father’s stock and devising practical jokes to
play upon him. When a ewe or goat had twins, which not
infrequently happened, he took one of the lambs or kids and
shut it up in a hollow ant-heap. In this way he gradually
collected ;t whole flock. Some one, who had noticed that
the ewes, when driven out in the morning, always collected
round the ant-heaps, told Huvcanc's father, and the latter
followed his son to the pasture, heard the bleating of the
Jambs and kids inside the ant-heaps, took away the stones
which blocked the entrance, and sei2ed the Iambs to take
them to their mothers. Hut as he did not know to which

*57

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

mother each belonged the result was confusion worse con¬
founded. Huveane, exasperated beyond endurance, struck
li is father with the switch he had in his hand. No doubt this
helped to bring matters to a crisis, but for the moment the old
man was loo much impressed with the sudden increase of
the flock to be very ang ry. In the evening, when the villagers
saw the full number being driven home, they were filled with
envy, and asked h im where he had got all those animals. He
told the whole story, which gave rise to endless discussions.

Plans for IIuwane's Destruction

It was certain that Huveane could be up to no good; he
must have produced those sheep and goats by magic—and
how came he to have a child and no mother for it? He
certainly ought to be got rid of. They puL it to his father
that the boy would end by bewitching the whole village.
They handed him some poison, and in the evening, when
Huveane was squatting by the fire, his mother brought
him a bowl of milk. He took it, but, instead of drinking,
poured it out on the ground. The neighbours took counsel,
and suggested to the father that he should dig a pit dose to
the fireplace, where Iluvcanc was in the habit of .sit ling, and
cover it over. But Huveane, instead of sitting down in his
usual place, forced himself in between his brothers, who were
seated by the fire, and in the struggle for a place one of them
fell into the pit. Next they dug another pit in the gateway
of his father's enclosure;, where ho would have to pass when
he came home with the flocks in the evening, lie jumped
over the pitfall, and all his sheep and goats did likewise,
This having failed, some one suggested that a man with
a spear should be tied up in a bundle of grass, a device
adopted, as we have seen, by Kachi ram lie’s mother. This
was done, and Huveane’s father sent him to fetch the bundle.
He took his spear with him —to his fathers surprise—and,
when near enough, threw it with unerring aim. The man
inside jumped up and ran away. Huveane returned to his
father, saying, “ Father, l went to do as you told me, but
the grass has run away..”

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE
Huveauc's Practical Jokes

The villagers were driven to the conclusion that it was
quite impossible to compass Iluveane's destruction by any
stratagem* however cunnings and they were fain to Jet him
be. He knew that he was a match tor them, and thence¬
forth sci himself to fool them by pretended stupidity.
Whatever tricks he played on them he knew that he was
safe.

One day he found a dead zebra, and sat down on it while
watching his dock. In the evening, when he returned and
was asked where he had been herding that day, he said, 14 By
the striped hill.” Three or four days running he gave Else
same answer, and, hta relatives' curiosity being roused, some
o f them followed him and found the zebra-—by this time
badly decomposed. They told him, 11 Why, this is game;
if you find an animal like this you should heap branches over
it, to keep the hyenas away, and come and call the people
from the village to fetch the meat." Next day Huveanc
found a very small bird lying dead; he heaped branches
over it and ran home with the news. Half the village turned
out, carrying lar^e baskets; their feelings on beholding the
1 game 1 may be imagined. One of the men informed him
that this kind of game should be hung round one^s neck;
he did this next day, and was set down as a hopeless idioc.
Several other tricks of the same kind are Eold of him; at
last, one day, his father, thinking he should no longer be
left to himself went herding with him. When the sun was
high he became very' thirsty; Huveanc showed him a high
rock, on the top of which was a pool of water, and knocked
in a number of pegs, so chat he could climb up. They both
went up and drank; then Huveanc came down* took away
the pegs, one by one, and ran home, where hi* mother had
prepared the evening meal* Huveanc ate all that was
ready; then he took the empty pots, filled them with cow
dung s and ran off to drive in the pegs and let his father conic
down. The old man came home and sat down to the supper,
which, as his graceless son now informed him, had been
magically changed, so as to be entirely uneatable. Alter

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

this the parents and neighbours alike seem to have felt that
there was nothing to be done with Huveane, except to put
up with him as best they could. We hear nothing more about
the child in the hollow tree.

It almost seems as if the trick, played by Iluveane on his
father were a kind of inverted echo of one tradition about

the High God, whom some call Huveane. " His abode is
in the sky. He created the sky and the earth. He came
down from the sky to make the earth and men. When he
had finished he returned to the sky. They say he climbed
up by pegs, 1 and alter he had gone up one step he took away
the peg below him, and so on, till he had drawn them all
out and disappeared into the sky.” 1

Some say that all the incidents detailed above belong, not
to Huveane (whom the narrators call the Great God, Modimo
o Moholo), but to his son Hutswanc, who, it is believed,
will one day come again, bringing happiness and prosperity'
to mankind—a somewhat unexpected conclusion after all
that we have heard about him.

Hlakanyana's Precocious Development and Mischievous
Pranks

“ tJhlikanyana is a very cunning man ; he is also very
small, of the size of a weasel ”— itakiiit ; hence his Other
name. He is " like the weasel ; it is as though he really
was of that genus; he resembles it in all respects." As
already stated, it is probable that he really was a weasel,
though the fact had been so far forgotten by the time the
story was written down as we have it that the narrators
thought the name needed explanation. Why the weasel
was chosen does not seem dear: his exploits are credited
by moat of the Bantu to the hare, by a few to the jackal. 1

Hlaksnyana was a chief’s son. Like Ryang’ombe, he
spoke before he was born; in fact, he repeatedly declared

1 No deubi driven Into the *oIM rath uf dr iky* tkir it mu bdkwl to j Ll i Q
Ok earth it i he hurl&an.

T Hoffttuicnp \n jjjr £j n Qfirtuvijp rpchfn r ygl, xiZi p-

= Cilhwjy, Nmrmy ZUrs, P . 3r
i$o

Sour of thp Hoys ivnn oihi.l'h \* ru Hms^vivi*

A Ifkfiti limikii. Wm*t IW

HLAKANVANA AND UUVEANE

his impatience to enter the world. No sooner had he made
his appearance than he walked out to the cattle-kraal, where
his lather had just slaughtered some oxen, and the men were
silting round, ready for a feast of meat. Scared by this
portent—for they had been waiting for the birth to be
announced' they all ran away, and Idlakanyana sat down
by the fire and began to eat a strip of meat which was
roasting there. They came back, and asked the mother
whether this was really the expected baby. She answered,

" it is he M ; whereupon they said, “Oh, we thank you, our
queen. You have brought forth for us a child who is wise
as soon as he is born. We never saw a child like this child.
This child is fit to be the great one among all the king's
children, for he has made us wonder by his wisdom." 1
But Hlafcanyana, thinking that his father did not take this
view, but looked upon him as a mere infant, asked him to
take a leg of beef and throw it downhill, over the kraal
fence (the gateway being nn the upper side). All the boys
and men present were to race for it, and M he shall be the
man who gets the leg." They all rushed to the higher
opening, bur Hkkanyana wormed his way between the
stakes at the lower end of the kraal, picked up the leg, and
carried it in triumph to meet the others, who were coming
round from the farther side. He handed it over to his
mother, and then returned to the kraal, where his father was
distributing the rest of the meat. He offered to carry each
man s share to his hut for him, which he did, smeared some
blunt! on the mat (on which meat is laid to be cut up), and
then carried the joint to his mother. He did this to each
one in turn, so that by the evening no house had any meat
except that of the chief’s wife, which was overstocked. No
wonder that the women cried out, " What is this that has
been born today? He is a prodigy, a real prodigy f " His
next feat was to fake out all the birds which had been caught
in the traps set by the boys, and bring them home, telling
his mother to cook them and cover the pots, fastening down
the lids, l ie then went off to sleep in the boys' house

1 Collawnyi Tab f* p. ft.

161

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

which he would not ordinarily have entered for several years
to come, and overbore their objections, saying, *' Since you
say this i shall sleep here, just to show you 1 He rose
early in the morning, went to his mother’s house, got m
without waking her, opened the pots, and ate^all the birds,
leaving only the heads, which he put back, after filling the
lower half of the pots wiLh cow dung, and fastened down the
lids. Then he went away for a time, and came back to
pby Huveane’s trick on his mother. He pretended to have
come in for the first time, and told her that the sun had risen,
and that she had slept too long—for if the birds were not
taken out of the pot before the sun was up they would turn
into dung. So he washed himself and sat down to his
breakfast, and when he opened the pots it was even as he
had said, and his mother believed him. He finished up the
heads, saying that, as she had spoilt his food, she should not
have even these, and then announced that he did not con¬
sider himself her child at all, and that his father was “ a
mere man, one of the people and nothing more. He would
not stay with them, but would go on his travels. So he
picked up his stick and walked out, still grumbling about
the loss of his birds.

He goes on his Travels

When he had gone some distance and was beginning to
get hungry he came upon some traps with birds in them and,
beginning to take them out, found himself stuck fast, T he
owner of the traps was a 'cannibal''—or, rather, an ogre—
who, finding that birds had more than once disappeared
from his traps, had put sticks smeared with birdlime inf rout
of them. Now he came along to look at them, and found
Hlakanyana, who, quite undisturbed, addressed him thus:
** Don’t beat me, and I will tell you. Take me out and
cleanse me from the birdlime and take mo home with you.
Have you a mother? 1 ’ The ogre said he had. Hlaka-
nvana, evidently assuming that he was to be eaten, said that
if he were beaten anti killed at once his flesh would be ruined
for the pot. *' I shall not be nice; I shall bo bitter.

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

Cleanse me and rake me home with you, that you may put
me in your hem we, that i may be conked by your mother.
And do you go a way and just leave me at your home.
I cannot bo cooked if you arc there- t shall be bad; I
cannot be nice." The hare, in some stories, uses the same
stratagem to escape being eaten.

The Ogre, a credulous person, like most of his kind, did
as he was asked, and handed Hlakanyana over to his mother,
to be cooked next morning.

When the ogre and his younger brother were safely out
of the way Hlakanyana proposed to the old woman that they
should “ play at boiling each other." He got her to put
on a large pot of water, made up the fire under it, and when
it was beginning to get warm he said, “ Let us begin with
me." She put him in and covered the pot. Presently he
asked to be taken out, and then, saying that the fire was not
hot enough, made it up to a blaze and began, very rudely, to
unfasten the old woman’s skin petticoat. When she ob¬
jected he said : '* What docs it matter if I have unfastened
your dress, I who am mere game, which is about to be eaten
by your sons and you? ** He thrust her in and put on the lid.
No sooner had he done so than she shrieked that she was being
scalded ; but he told her that could not be, or she would not
be able to cry out. He kept the lid on til] the poor creature’s
erica ceased, and then put on her clothes and laydown m her
slecping-place. When the sons came home he told them
to take their 'game' and eat; he had already eaten, and
did not mean to get up. While they were eating he slipped
out at the door, threw off the clothes, and ran away as fast
as he could. When he had reached a safe distance he called
out to them, “ You are eating your mother, you cannibals ! *’
They pursued him hot-foot; he came to a swollen river and
changed himself into a piece of wood. They came up, saw
his footprints on the ground, and, as he was nowhere in sight,
concluded he had crossed the river and flung the piece of
wood after him. Safe on the other bank, he resumed his
own shape and jeered at the ogres, who gave up the pursuit
and turned back.

163

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

He kills a Hare, gets a Whistle, and is rubbed of it

HUkauyanfl went on his way, and before very lon^ he
spied a hare. Being hungry, he tried to entice it within
reach by offering to cell a tale, but the hare would not be
beguiled. At last, however (this part of the story is not
very clear, and the hare must have been a different creature
from the usual Bantu hare I), he caught it, killed it, and
roasted it, and, after eating the flesh, made one of the
bones into a whistle, lie went on, playing his whistle
and singing:

w NgaAJjxgj.vj jw tfoififa
StfekBptk&fM
Ngdgt&dxya

traJd ffidHJtFrf/'

[ <c I mfit Htajafa mother.

And we cooked each other.

] did not bom;

She wai done to a turn/*]

In time he came to a large tree on the bank of a river,
overhanging a deep pool On a branch of the tree lay an
iguana, 1 who greeted him, and Hlakanyana responded

f olitciy. The iguana said, 11 Lend me your whistle, so that
can hear if it will sound.” Hhkanyana refused, but the
iguana insisted* promising to give it back, Hlakanyana
said* " Come away from the poo}, then, and come out here
on to the open ground; I am afraid near a pool* I say
you might run into the pool with my whistle, /nr you are a
person that lives in deep water/ 1 The iguana amt down
from his tree, and when Hlakanyana thought that he was
at a safe distance from the river he handed him the whistle.
The iguana tried the whistle, approved the sound, and
wanted to take it away with him. Hlakanyana would not
hear of this, and laid hold of the iguana as he was trying to
make oiF, but received such a blow from the powerful tail
that he had to let go* and the iguana dived into the river,
carrying the whistle with him,

1 Tbit *a l\m tiM’J by C^tEswa)' (prubibly urawjri? llwt l be IT if* no

EgiUima on rlic Afriwi cuHliJvrnEj lo tranikuc v.T 04 Pn p which ii rally this monicor
[iurd (AfftsiV p&ftfri),

164

RLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

In a Xosa version it is Hlafcanyam who steals the whistle
from the iguana.

One of the Ronga stories about the hare describes him
as challenging a poor gazelle to the game of *' cooking each
other/’ Having killed her, he made her horns into a kind
of trumpet, which he used to sound an alarm of war.

In fact, this trick, in one form or other, and attributed to
different actors, ia found throughout the Bantu area. Com¬
pare the case of Jack and the Cornish giant.

Hlakanyana again went on till he came to a place where a
certain old man hud hidden some bread. 1 He ran off with it,
but not before the owner had seen him ; the old man evi¬
dently knew him, for he called out, ** Put down my bread,
Hlakanyana," Hlakanyana only ran the faster, the old man
after him, till, finding that the latter was gaining on him, he
crawled into a snake's hole. The old man put in his hand
and caught him by the leg. Illakanyatia cried, laughing,
’*Het He! you’ve caught hold of a root I ” * So the old
man let go, and, feeling about for the leg, caught a root, at
which Hlakanyana yelled, “ Oh! oh 1 you're killing me]
The old man kept pulling at the root till he was tired out and
went away, Hlakanyana ate the bread in comfort, and then
crawled out anil went on his way once more.

He nurses the Leopard’s Cubs

In the course of his wanderings he came upon a leopard’s
den, where he found four cubs and sat down beside them
till the mother leopard came home, earn ing a buck with
which to feed her little ones. She was very angry when
she saw Illakanyana, and was about to attack him, but he
disarmed her by his flattering tongue, and finally persuaded
her to let him stay and take care of the cubs, while she went
out to hunt. “ l will take care of them, and I will build
a beautiful house, that you may lie here at the foot of the

I /rfiutnw. Thnu|fh nnw used /or * bftarf * in ,iu* tens [whieb to unknown la
ibc Bantu before they id rcmEJici with Ehrujirini), th.il word really irtrim

dumpling* of malic or amabtk (millet}.

* So Birr Turypin kyi to B*« For* * iVn bn* du ■lump-root m ketch
hold o'mer Thn tticiEfein occur*over tad overi#cn folltknie.

165

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

rock with your childrenHe also told her he could cook—
a somewhat unnecessary accomplishmen t, one would think,
in tins case; but it would seem that he had his reasons. The
leopard having agreed, Hkkany&na brought the cubs, one
by one, for her to suckle. She objected, wanting them all
brought at once, but the little cunning fellow persisted
and got hi* way. When they had all been fed she called on
him to makegood his promise and skin the buck and cook it,
which he did. So they both ate, and all went to sleep, in
the morning, when the leopard had gone to hun t, Hlakanyana
sec to work building the house. He made the usual round
Zulu hut, but with a very small doorway; then, inside, he
dug a burrow, leading to the back of the hut, with an opening
a long way off. Then he took four assagais which he had
carried with him on his travels, broke them off short to
rather less than the width of the doorway, and hid them in
a convenient place. Having finished, he ate one of the cubs.
When the mother came home he brought them out as before,
one by one, taking the third twice, so that she never missed
any of them. He did the same the next day, and the next,
On the fourth day he brought out the last cub four times,
and at length it refused to drink. The mother was naturally
surprised at this, but Hlakanyana said he thought it was not
well. She said, “ Take care of it, then,” and when he had
carried it info the house called him to prepare supper. When
she had eaten Hlakanyana went into the house, and the
Jeopard called out that she was coming in to look after the
child. H ilk any an a said, ** Come in, then,” knowing that
she would take some time squeezing herself through the
narrow entrance, and at once made his escape through the
burrow, Meanwhile; she had got in, found only one cub,
oonejuded that he must have eaten the rest, and followed
him into the burrow. By this time Hlakanyana was out at
the other end; he ran round to the front of the house, took
his assagais from the hiding-place, and fixed them in the

{ ground at the doorway, the points sloping inward. The
eopard found she could not get very far in the burrow, so
she came back into the hut, and, squeezing through the
166

HvT-twiLnfHG iv Natal

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

doorway to pursue Hlakanyana into the optn, was pierced
by the assagais and killed.

Hhkinyaiia and the Ogre

Hlakanyana now sat down and ate the cub ; then he
skinned the leopard, and gradually—for he remained on the
spot for some time—ate most of the flesh, keeping, however,
one leg, with which he set out once more on his travels, for
he was a man who did not stay long in one place.” Soon
after he met a hungry Ogre, with whom he easily made
friends by giving him some meat, and they went on together.
Thev came across two rows, which the iximtt said belonged
to him. H kkanyana suggested that they should build a hut,
so that they could slaughter the COWS and cat them m peace
and comfort. The Ogre agreed ; they killed the cows and
started to build. As rain was threatening Hlakanyana said
they had better get on with the thatching.

This is done by two people, one inside the hut and the
Other on the roof, passing the string with which the grass
is tied backward and forward between them, pushing it
through bv means of a pointed stick. Hlakanyana went
inside, while the ogre climbed on the rooi. The latter had
very Ion" hair (a distinguishing feature of the ataam\ and
Hlakanyana managed to knit it, lock by lock, into the thatch,
so firmly that he would not be able to get off. He then
sat down and ate the beef which was boiling on the fire.
A hailstorm came on, Hlakanyana went into the house with
his joint, and the ogre (who seems to have been a harmless
creature enough) was left to perish ” He was struck with
the hailstones, and died there on the house —as an)one
who has seen an African hailstorm can readily believe.

Having caused the death of another iztmv in a way which
need not be related here, as the same thmg occurs (with
more excuse) in a different story, Hlakanyana took up his
abode fur a time with yet another, who seems to have hid
no reason to complain of him. As usual when no ill Fortune
befell him he became restless, and took the road °ncemore,
directing his steps towards the place on the river v^hacth^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

iguana had robbed him of his whistle. He found the iguana,
on his tree, called him down, killed him, and recovered the
whistle. Then he went back to the ogre’s hut, but the owner
had gone away, and the hut was burned down. So he said,
" I will now' go back to my mother, for, behold, 1 am in
trouble."

He goes Home

But his return was by no means in the spirit of the
Prodigal Son, for he professed to have come back purely
out of affection for her, saying, “ Oh, now I have returned,
my mother, for I remembered you I ” and calmly omitting all
mention of his exploits during his absence. She believed
this, being only too ready to welcome him back, and he
seems to have behaved himself for a time. Nothing is said
of his father’s attitude, or of that of the clansmen.

The next episode is a curious one: it is told all over
Africa in connexion with different characters—the hare, the
jackal, a man, an old woman, a girl, a boy. The attraction
evidently lies in the repeated enumeration «t objects, adding
one every time, after the fashion of The House that 'Jack Built.

The day after his return home Hlakanyana went to a wad¬
ding, and as he came over a hill on the way back he found
some urndiitHtliane —a kind of edible tuber, of which he was
very fond. lie dug it up and took it home to his mother,
asking her to cooku for him, as he was now going to milk
the cow. She did so, and, tasting one to see if it was done,
liked it so much that she ate the whole. When he asked tor
it she said, " I have eaten it, my child," and he answxrcd,

11 Give me my ttmdiaxdiatie, for I dug it up on a very little
knoll, as I was coming from a wedding." His mother gave
him a milk-pail by way of compensation, and he went off.
Soon he came upon some boys herding sheep, who were
milking the ewes into old, broken potsherds. He said,

" Why arc you milking into potsherds? You had better use
mv milk-pail, but you must give me a drink out of it."
They used his milk-pail, but the last boy who had it broke
it. HEafeanyana said, “ Give me my milk-pail, my milk-pail
*68

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

my mother gave me, my mother having eaten my umdia¬
ndiane ”—and so on, as before. The boys gave him an
assagai, which he lent to some other boys, who were trying
to cut slices of liver with splinters of sugar-cane. They
broke his assagai, and gave him an axe instead. Then he
met some old women gathering firewood, who had nothing
to cut it with, so he offered them the use of his axe, which
again got broken. They gave him a blanket, and he went
on his way till nightfall, when he found two young men
sleeping out on the hillside, with nothing to cover them.
He said, “Ah, friends, do you sleep without covering?
Have you no blanket?” They said, “No.” He said,

“ Take this of mine,” which they did, but it was rather
small for two, and as each one kept dragging it from the
other it soon got torn. Then he demanded it back. “ Give
me my blanket, my blanket which the women gave me,”
and so on. The young men gave him a shield. Then he
came upon some men fighting with a leopard, who had no
shields. He questioned them as he had done the other
people, and lent one of them his shield. It must have been
efficient as a protection, for they killed the leopard, but the
hand-loop by which the man was holding it broke, and of
course it was rendered useless. So Hlakanyana said:

“ Give me my shield, my shield the young men gave me,

The young men having torn my blanket,

My blanket the women gave me,

The women having broken ray axe.

My axe the boys gave me,

The boys having broken my assagai,

My assagai the boys gave me,

The boys having broken my milk-pail,

My milk-pail my mother gave me,

My mother having eaten my umdiandiane ,

My umdiandiane I dug up on a very little knoll.

As I was coming from a wedding.”

They gave him a war-assagai ( isinkemba ).

Here the story as given by Bishop Callaway breaks off,
the narrator saying, “ What he did with that perhaps I may
tell you on another occasion.” But a Xosa version recorded

169

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

by McCall Tiled, 1 which gives the series of exchanges rather
differently, puts this episode before (hat tit die ogre’s traps
(also quite different in detail) and that of the leopard'* cubs,
and follows it up with two more incidents. One (relating
to the tree belonging to the chief of the animals, of which
no one knows the name) is much better told elsewhere, as
an adventure of the hare; the other recalls an exploit of the
hare in providing food for the lion, which is told by the
Pofcomo on the Tana river, and by many other people be¬
sides. But in this case Hlakanyana made provision only for
himself. He came to the house of a jackal and asked for
food. Being told there was none, he said, “ You must climb
up fin the house and cry out with a loud voice, ' We are
going to be fat to-day, because Hlakanyana Is dead ! ' ” When
the jackal did so all the animals came running to hear the
news, and, finding the door open, went in. Hlakanyana,
hidden inside, shut the door, killed them at his leisure, and
ate. We hear no more about the jackal.

Then he returned home for the last time, and his story
reaches its conclusion. He went out to herd his father’s
calves—no doubt seized by a sudden impulse to make him¬
self useful—and found a tortoise, which he picked up and
carried home on his back. His mother said, “ What have
you got there, my son? " And he answered, “ Just take it
off my back, Mother.” But that she could not do, however
hard she tried, for the creature held fast. So she heated
some fat and poured it on the tortoise, which let go only too
quickly, "and the fat fell on Hlakanyana and burned him,
and he died. That is the end of this cunning little fellow.”

But I suspect that this is only a late version, and that the
real Hlakanyana never came to :m end in that sense,
more than Huveane* Has anyone ever heard the end of
Jack the Giant-killer?

Though Hlakanyana is not, so far as one knows, asso¬
ciated with any such traditions, however dim* as those told
of Huveane* it is by no means impossible that he may, in
the far-off origins of myth* have played a similar part.

i Kafir folilttn, p. 96.

[70

HLAKANYANA AND HUVEANE

Huvcanc was really a benefactor* as well as a trickster,
though in the popular tales the latter aspect has tended to
predominate, and we may even discover traces of such a
character in Hlakanyana, as when he supplies the herd-tads
with a milk-pail, the women with an axe, and so forth,
though the emphasis is certainly kid on the way in which
he invariably got hack his own with interest.

This union of apparently incompatible characteristics docs
not seem to strike the primitive mind as impossible. Wundt,
in his Fti&m yjyflSflfegw, 1 points out that legendary heroes are
of three kinds, the deliverer and benefactor, the malignant,
hurtful demon, and the mischievous jcater, who stands mid¬
way between the two. And in die imagination of very
primitive people we not infrequently find “ these qualities
united in one and the same being. Thus Manabozho of
the A Igonkin is both demiurgus (creator) and deliverer, but
at the same time he plays the part sometimes of a harmful
demon, sometimes of a tricksy, humorous sprite, l> the hero
of innumerable popular jests.

1 V<j 1. V, Piwf ft, p. 47.

CHAPTER XII: THE AMAZIMU

T HE word izima, in the Zulu tales, is usually, as
by Callaway and Theal, translated ‘ cannibal. 1 But
this word, with us, is ordinarily applied to people
who, for one reason or another, are accustomed to eat human
flesh. As Callaway pointed out long ago, however, “it is
perfectly clear that the cannibals of the Zulu legends are not
common men * they are magnified in to giants and magicians."
Perkins it might also be said that the attributes of the
legendary amuzituu were transferred to the abhorred beings,
who, driven to cannibalism by famine, kept up the haW
when it was no longer needed and, as Ulutuli Dhladhla told
the bishop, “ rebelled against men, forsook them, and liked
to eat them, and men drove them away ... so they were
regarded as a distinct nation, for men were game (izirtya-
massarse) to them.” 1 In fact, he distinctly says that " once
they were men," and implies that they were so no longer.

Cannibals

The practice of cannibalism undoubtedly exists in Africa,
though it is much less common than is sometimes supposed \
and it is usually of a ceremonial character* which is a differ¬
ent matter from using human flesh as ordinary food. This
last seems to be—or to have been—done by some tribes in
West Africa— e,g* t the Manyemj*—but one need not accept
all the sensational statements that have been published on
this subject. So far as there is any truth in these, the
custom probably originated in famine times, as it did with
the people referred to by Bishop Callaway f 3 informant
Thus, it is said* in Natal, after a long droughtj a certain
chief of the Abambo, named Umdava* M told his people to
scatter themselves over the veld and catch all the people they
came upon in the paths to serve as food , . * and those
people uved on human flesh till the time far the crops came
round/ 1 3 The dwellers on Umkambati (the Table Moun-

1 Nurttfj Tales* p. if£.

* CoIuuq, 2n£k-KmgliiA Dkt&mrji p+

172

THE AMAZTMU

Eain near Pietermaritzburg) were more than once attacked
by these cannibals.

The old chief Nomsirnekwana, who died less than thirty
years ago, had a narrow escape from them in his childhood.
'They seized his whole family and drove them along, making
the boy carry on his head the pot in which, so they tnld
him, he was to be cooked. Watching his opportunity, at
a turn in the path hidden by the tall grass he slipped into
the Umaunduzi river, and Jay concealed under the hushes
which overhung the bank—the spot was pointed out to me
in 189^. Falling to find him, the enemy came to the con¬
clusion that he had been killed by the hippopotami, who
at that time abounded in the river, and passed on their
way. Nomsimckwana's sister and the other captives were
ultimately killed and eaten.

Those man-eaters who refused to give up the practice
when the necessity for it had passed fled to the mountains,
pursued by universal execration, and eked out a wretched
existence in dens and caves, sallying forth, when occasion
offered, to attack lonely travellers. Moshcsh, paramount
chief of the Basuto, spared no pains in putting an end to
these horrors, though he refused to exterminate the criminals,
as his councillors advised, provided they would turn from
their evil ways. He gave them cattle, and encouraged them
to till the soil, and when that generation had died out
cannibalism was a thing of the past.

uiutuli Dhladhla, whom we quoted in a previous para¬
graph, said that " the word amaztmu t when interpreted,
means to gormandize^—to be gluttonous." Hut the word
exists in so many Bantu languages, with (as far as one can
discover) no such connotation, that l cannot help thinking
him mistaken. Moreover, it has, distinctly, some relation
to mzimu (of a different noun class), which means ‘ a spirit 1
—in the first instance an ancestral spirit. It is not used in
Zulu, where the ancestral spirits are called aamdhUzi, or
iimatangOy save in the phrase izinkomo tzomzimu^ *' cattle ot
the spirits ’’—slaughtered as a sacrifice to them. Here
umzimu seems to be "a collective name for itmatongo'*

173

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Ogres

The Basil to use the word maxima
* cannibals/ h dim for 1 spirits' or
Swahili word for a being best described as an ogre; the
word occurs in old, genuine Bantu tales, and I have heard
it used by a native; but most Swahili nowadays seem to
prefer the Arabic loan-words jiiti and shetani. A ghost is
mziika \ but the Stem -zimtt survives in the expression
JtiisimUf “ the place of spirits ”—thought of as underground
—and muximUf a place where offerings are made to spirits.
The Wachaga and the Akikuyu have their irimt , the
Akamba the eimu (the Kamba language is remarkable for
dropping out consonants), and the Duals, on the other side
of Africa, their edimo. Ocher peoples in West Africa, while
having a notion of beings more or less similar, call them
by other names. The makiiki of the Ambundu in Angola
play the same part in folk-tales as the amaztmtt — their name
may perhaps lie connected with the Kongo nkishi (nkisi in
some dialects), which meant originally ‘a spirit,' but now
more usually *a charm,'or the object commonly called a
* fetish.' I he Aandonga (in the Ovambo country south of
Angola), strangely enough, tell the usual ogre tales of the
eriij ' albino/ Albinos are found, occasionally, jn all parts
of Africa; they are not, as a rule, so far as one can learn,
regarded with horror, though the Mayombe of the Lower
Congo think that they arc spirit children, and observe
particular ceremonies on the birth of such a one.

The appearance of the izimu is variously described, but
it seems to be agreed that he can assume the appearance of
an ordinary human being, if it is not his usual guise. The
Zujus and the Ambundu say they may be recognized by
their long, unkempt hair—a. noticeable point among people
who cither shave off their hair frequently for reasons of
cleanliness, or build it up into elaborate structures, like
the conical casjjfttres of Zulu wives or the head-rings of their
husbands.

The vtakiihi are sometimes said to have many heads; in
one story when the hero cuts off a dikt ski's head he immi>
17+

(singular It dime) for
ods/ Zimwi is the

THE AMAZIMU

diately grows a second; in another a dtkishi carries off a
woman and makes her his wife; when her child is born and
found to have only one head the husband threatens to call
“ our folk ” to eat her if she ever has another like it. As
the second baby appears with two heads the threat was not
fulfilled. But, thinking it best to be on the safe side, the
wife took the elder child and ran away, hid for the night in a
deserted house, was surprised when asleep by a wandering
dikishi , and eaten after all.

Other accounts of the amazimu are still more weirdly
sensational. The irimu of the Wachaga is said to be a ‘ were-
leopard ’■—that is, a man who is able at will to change him¬
self into a leopard. But in one story this irimu, or leopard,
is described as having ten tails; in another he presents
himself in human shape at a homestead, as a suitor to the
daughter, but is detected when she catches sight of a second
mouth on the back of his head. 1 In the Ronga story of
“ Nabandji ” 2 the people of the cannibal village whence the
young man takes a wife all have this peculiar feature. It
may not be out of place here to mention a Hausa (Nigeria)
belief that a witch has mouths all over her back. It is not
easy to see what can have suggested this notion.

The Chaga idea of the irimu seems to be a fairly compre¬
hensive one. An unfortunate man, who broke a tabu, was
turned into an irimu, with the result that thorn-bushes grew
out of his body, and he wandered about the country,
swallowing everything that came in his way. His brother,
whom he had considerately warned to keep his distance,
consulted a diviner and, by his advice, set the thorns on fire.
When they were all burned away the irimu returned to his
own proper shape. 3

Sometimes the amazimu are said to have only one leg, or
only half a body; one story of a Kikuyu irimu describes him
as having one leg, but two heads, one of which was stone;
one-half of his body was human, but the other half stone.
The Basuto speak of a set of beings with one leg, one arm,

i Gutmann, Volisbuch, p. 75. * Junod, Chants et contes, p. *46.

5 Gutmann, Volksbuch, p. 73 *

>75

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OP THE BANTU

one trar, and one eye, but these are called matebcU 1 (it h
not quite clear why), not madimo, They cariy off a chiefs
daughter, though it is not suggested that she is to be eaten.
In the story of " The Mothemellc we hear of cannibals
(madimo) 11 hopping on one leg." But these half-bodied
beings, while appearing in folklore all over Africa, are, as a
rule, quite distinct from the tmazmu. They arc not in¬
variably malignant; often, indeed, very much the reverse.
They will be discussed later on.

The Little People

Chat dam thought that the makhhi were the aboriginal
inhabitants of the country, the ‘Batua 1 (Batwa) Pygmies,
“ not as they are now, but as they appeared to the original
Bantu settlers." But there is no evidence that the Pygmies
or the Bushmen (whom the Zulus call Abatw.i) wore ever
regarded as cannibals. Callaway's Zulu informants were
very emphatic about “ the dreadfulness of the Abatwa,”
who, if offended, as by a reference to their small stature,
about which they were especially sensitive, would shoot you
with a poisoned arrow as soon a'$ look at you. But there is
no reference to their eating human flesh.

There is a distinct body of tradition about these ‘little
people, 1 who are nowhere confused with the amaztmu ; they
may be dangerous if irritated, as stated above, but arc other¬
wise inoffensive, and even helpful, when approached in the
right way. The Wachaga have tales about the Wako-
nyingo, supposed to live on the summit of Kilimanjaro
(formerly believed inaccessible: to human feet), which show
them in quite an amiable I ight. Even the man who insulted
them by taking them for children and asking when their
parents were coming home met with no worse fate than
waiting dinnerless till nightfall, and then going home as he

1 TTiii Dim if applied by (hi UliUCO nut only to the Jtului of Rhoden®
(AstudcbdcJ, but to the Zvlin And \'ou in gencml. Thrif irbwiu with [facte
people hive it. often been hostile that thrir fun* may tmec been fiven fur th» teuon
In th* minium in t]«cition.

* Jatuttcc, Trtannj of Bu-Ssua Ixrt, p. 114.

176

THE AMAZIMU

had come, whereas his more tactful brother was presented
with a fine herd of cattle.

Dr Doke/ writing about the Lamba people also dis¬
tinguishes between ogres (ptirisimunkulu or waiisimwc*
and dwarfs {utuckikuiti)? whom he calls f gnomes/ These,
however, differ from the other + little people P in one im¬
portant respect-—-they eat people* The gnome u is re¬
nowned fur the one Jong tooth, blood-red and sharp, with
which it kills its victims. Moreover, the Lamba people
rccognr/e the existence of pygmies (utuny&kdmafufito) , dis¬
tinct from the gnomes* In the one story in which they
figure they Lome much nearer the character of the waJcu-
njingp* Yet in u The Choric Story 1 of the Lion ” a
gnome shows himself helpful in saving a man and his sister
from an ogre** And in another tale a gnome who has been
robbed of his drums by the chiefs orders sprinkles 1 medi¬
cine" over the men carrying them off, whereupon they all
fall down dead* and he recovers hia property. But, having
done SOj he sprinkles them again, and they return to life.
And the matter was arranged amicably in the end.

The Kaniba Aimu

A different origin for the amazimu has been suggested
by others-— viz* t that they are the ghosts of evil-disposed
persons- This is expressly affirmed by the Akaniba about
some spirits called Jimu ja kifmfo. They

haunt woods and waste places . . . they are evil spirits and an-
supposed to be die disembodied relics of people who have titled
their neighbours by the help of black magic. + * * God has ban¬
ished them to the wuods* where they wander about without anyone
to care for rhem by sacrificing to them, . * * A man who lived at
Kitundu went out one nighr about midnight to look at a m.oic- field

1 Itm&P /Wjf/arVp pp.

* r IlB word cobUim ibe htW loot (-frflKWj M -Efwir.

1 Dr Dokfi UKl ihil expression to tnaibtc tthsimi, mi a pro* itiiry iuttnptntd
with son^a/ 1 id wtuefa the sudjemr ;om r 5 m tbo 5Kcrc P SutoKh Tdbh Freh***
p- vii,

* Tliii trJutipi to the type flf Jtflry I*WW "Robber Bridegroom " in (lie
fhOc-iucg Society*] c[ajaiftcaLiOfl.

M ' 177

myths and legends of THE BANTU

some drmnce aw ay. . . . On hk way hack he met a spirit in the
path y it wus of enormous size* and had mily one leg ♦ * « before
he couM move he ws struck down by a flash of fire, and the spirit
passed oil its way. 1

This may well have been the origin of the amaz$mu t but
I fancy that in most cases it has been forgotten, and they
are looked on as cjuite different from the ghosts, good or
bad. Another point to notice is that the ghosts are still
largely believed in and taken quite seriously, while the
amazlmtt proper occur only in stories related for entertain¬
ment (and, possibly, instruction), but not accepted as fact.
This Sts m with Mr Hobley s account of the aimu> described
by the Akamba as wicked ghosts, and actually seen (and
even felt [) by people now living.

It will be noticed that the Akamba, like the Akikuyu>give
the aim Hi or some of them, only one leg. Dr Lindbloni also
mentions this characteristic. In addition he states that the
rimu is 41 a figure appearing in different shapes, sometimes
smaller than a dwarf, sometimes of superhuman size * * .
though, on die other hand, he also often appears as a w holly
human being , . , he is a gluttonous ogre T and kidnaps
people in order to eat them up ? th This writer refers to
several K ambit stories—-unfortunately not yet published—
in one of which the dmu appears as a handsome young man
and lures a girl to his home; in another a Kstmba woman
turns into an dmu and eats her own grandchild. 3

The idea of the emu seems here to be mixed up, in some
cases, with that of the Swallowing Monster, in the peculiar
form in which it occurs in Basutoland and in Ruanda ;

A favourite ending to many tales about rhe fimu t or nearly
related* more or less monstrous beings is tint the murater, now

1 Hobley, Rnntu Mf/j p pp. 8-9 and 31. It ii cunouj thiil i\w and Other
authpriliei gm the plsiil qf a* aimfi, which i* properly a plural uf lh* person
dm. “■hci^aj the form would be maimu, of the lixth noun cln^. Aimu i>
also 1 he Kamba word for the anceiual ipiriii, but thii plural Li seldom. it tvxr r
for the Ortca, while the iinRiiLir of 4 sittiUj r ^hosEs,* ii equally rare, *0 tbit there i*
not likely to be any confLiajQn between the iv/a. Tztmu and ill word* in

Bantu belong In the li-tiui gLua while l be wurdi for she an -cm Ural g’hoits

brtoElf (wirh *(ccfniuiii| is mntu, abois?) tu the trm-nri flos (3-4)-
1 Undblum^ Kamba Ta 2 ct r jap. vLL e untl ix.

178

THE AMAZIMU

nr length vanquished, tells 3 tis conqueror in his death-hour to Cut
off J]i^ little finger, .ui-lI, this having been done, the people End
cattle thar he had devoured ail come 10 life again*

Stories of Escape from Ogres

There are several stories which, in slightly differing
shapes, are found probably in all parts of the Bantu area-
Some of them are familiar to us from European analogues,
though this does not necessarily mean that they have been
imported, In one the oj*rc puts a girl into a bag and carries
her about the country hi I she is rescued by her relations.
Another tells how a part}' of girls or Sails pass the night in
an ogre's hut, and arc rescued by the ready wit of the
youngest. Then we have the girl forcibly married to an
ogre who makes her escape in various ways- And, again,
there is the theme, already referred to, of the 11 Robber
Bridegroom/ 1 though he is more commonly a transformed
animal (hyena, leopard, or lion) than an ogre properly an
called* But, as the Chaga irimu t for instance, is also de¬
scribed as a 1 werc-lcopard/ it is not always easy to keep the
two notions distinct.

Some stories of escape from ogres employ the familiar
device of obstacles created by the fugitives throwing various
things behind them, which become a root, a fire, a forest of
knives, and a lake or river* This particular incident may
not be indigenous to Africa; it is not found in all the stories,
and chose which have it— e.g^ “Kibaraka/* referred to in
our concluding chapter—contain other foreign dements.
There is no reason to suppose that most of the other
incidents are not of home growth.

Of the type first mentioned there Is a well-known example
In the story of 4i Tsdane," which (first published by
Arbousset in 1842) was introduced to English readers by
Sir James G. Frazer, under the title of “A South African Red
Riding-hood.” 1 The resemblance to the European Red
Riding-hood is not very close* and applies chiefly to the
opening incident, which is not found In most of the versions,

1 M-£wj ml. v\i T p. 1^..

179

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

TselanCj remaining behind in the hut from which her parents
have migrated, is charged by her mother not to open the door
eo anyone but herself. The ogre, by iminting the mothers
voice, gains admission and carries the gir! off* inc same
opening is found in "Demine and Dcnrnzana" (where it is
a brother, not the mother, whose voice h counterfeited), but
in the Zulu " Usitungusobcndhle ” 1 and the Xosa " The
Cannibal's Bird," 3 and in most, if not all, of the other stories,
a party of girls go out to bathe, or to gather wild fruity or
for some other purpose, and one of them, either unwittingly,
or even in wanton mischief, offends the ogre, who thereupon
seizes her.

A curious point in the Sesuto, Xosa, and Zulu versions is
that when the ogre has been (as they think) finally disposed
of he is changed into a tree, w hich seems to have retained
harmful powers, for when people tried to get honey out of
the hollow trunk their hands stuck fast. 3 Something of the
same notion appears in the Swahili tale [ am about to relate.
It is called " The Children and the Zimvoi **

A Swaliili Tale

Some little girls went out to look for shells on the sea-
shore. One of them found a very beautiful shell and, fearing
to lose it, laid it on a rock, so that she could pick it up on
the way home. However, as they were returning she forgot
it till they had passed the place, and then, suddenly remem¬
bering it, asked her companions to go back with her. I hey
refused, and she went alone, singing to keep up her courage, 1
and found a zimtui sitting on the rock. He said, " What
do you want?” and she sang her song over again. He
said, '* I can’t hear you. Come closer I ” And when she

1 Cailatray, Jftmrttf Tafcf , b. 74- * Tfacal, Kaffir FcRkf*, p.

% The tunc thing happen* in n Ronga in>ry to nainc if omen wh^ had anenefcd
ilis ghatci br on their ncncd jnj^c.

* The word* of the tongue * mixture of Yao and Swah^ (indicating .1 ppobabt
origin for ihn itory). The meaning LI tLDt vay dear, cu*nt for the twi> hail'
bi 1 hive furgc^len my *heU 1 I said, Let me tfO bilfifc mnd pick U up." »

it dear from the lc* < m it standi ■*= kir riser the began » lin? before ur VOX Rbc ha*
teen the v*w. If the hitter* the rottg may law b«n intended to propitiate nnn p
[huu£h rt iKmi to buYt hid the opposite effect.

1B0

THE AMAZIMU

had done so ho seized her and pur her into a barrel 1

which he was carrying.

He then act of? on his traveh, and when he came to a
village made for the place of meeting ® and announced that
he was prepared to give a musical entertainment in return
for a meal, *' I have this drum of mine, I should like a
fowl and rite." He beat the drum, and the imprisoned
child sang in time to the rhythm, to the delight of every one,
I Ie was given plenty of food, but gave none to the girl. I Ie
went on and repeated his performance at the next village,
which happened to be the girl's own home. The report
of his music seems to have preceded him, ior the people
Slid, “ We have heard, O zimwiy that you have a most
beautiful drum ; now, please, play to us I ” lie asked for
pmbt (native beer), and, being promised that he should
have some, began to beat the drum, and t he girl sang. Her
parents at once recognized her voice, and when the per¬
formance was over supplied the drummer with all the liquid
refreshment he required. lie soon went to sleep, and they
opened the drum, released their daughter, and hid her in
the inner compartment of the hut. T hey then put into the
drum a snake and a swarm of bees and some biting ants,
and fastened it up again.

In the Seauto and Xosa. versions the parents, instead ol
making the ogre drunk, induce him to go to the stream for
water, ant! give him a leaky pot in order to delay his return
as long as possible. lit one case they put in a dog as well as
the venomous ants, in the other snakes and toads, the latter
being supposed poisonous.

After a while they awakened him, saying, Ogre, wake
up! Some strangers have arrived, and they want to hear

■ JjteT on it El called n drum (qgumd), M it El in Dttdlry Kjdd'i story of " I h=
Chi Lit in the Dtan," in (kMhrtd, p. *}J. In U>« the child u » h

■ boy 1 bus I cannot help thinking thu ii * miitike- Wpufli Mem to talc for

grnntrrl rhnl a i-hild k nwcuiinr uul«a otherwiK ipecifcd. ...

’ Cj lied tiy EtulT Macdonald tin- ' Forum ‘ [ in Chmyanja frwtffo ; in iw.ilnli
baraw. It a wunctinte* merely in open rpiec under the village 6&-utc, hukWj^i
in erection like a bandstand, wmeliw™ a more acntnuoui itrurture, with *e*» Tor
lie eldcn, who hold their diieuniom (hen:. Strangere amTiHg ai a village Uwayi
make for this plawr

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

your music.” So he lifted his drum and began to beat it,
but the voice; was silent. He went on beating, but no other
sound was heard, and at last he took his leave, and was not
pressed to stay.

When he had gone a certain distance and was no longer
in sight of the village he stopped and opened Ilia drum.
Immediately the snake shot out and bit him, the bees stung
him, and he died.

The Baleful Pumpkin

Hut that was not the end of him. On the spot where he
died there sprang up a pumpkin-vine, which bore pumpkins
of unusual size. One day some small boys passing by
stopped to admire them, and, prompted by the destructive
instinct which seems to be inherent in the very young of all
climes, exclaimed, " Jolly fine pumpkins, these I Let's get
father's sword and have a slash at them I ”

The largest of the pumpkins waxed wroth and chased
the children—breaking offits stem and rolling over and over,
one must suppose—and they took to their heels. In their
headlong flight they came to a river, and saw the old ferry¬
man sitting on the bank by his canoe.

11 You, Daddy, ferry us over! Take us to the other side!
We are running away from a pumpkin.”

The old man, without waiting for explanations, took them
across, and they ran on till they came to a village, and found
all the men sitting in the haraxa y to whom they appealed :
” Hide us from that pumpkin 1 The zimwi has turned into
a pumpkin. You will Just have to take it and burn it with
fire.”

No doubt this version has lost some particulars in trans¬
mission ; the whole neighbourhood must have known the
story, and been aware that the pumpkin-plant had grown
out of the zimwi’i remains; one may guess that the boys
had, over and over again, been told not to go near it,
and, boylike, were all the more attracted to the forbidden
thing.

The men seem at once to have appreciated the danger;
182

THE AMAZIMU

they hurried the boys off into a hut and told them to keep
quiet behind the partition at the back. Presently the pump¬
kin arrived. It is not explained how it had crossed the
river, but in such a case one marvel the more is easily taken
for granted. It spoke with a human voice, saying,Have
you seen my people [r.e., my slaves] who are running
away ? ”

The village elders, who by this time had returned to their
seats and were deliberately taking snuff, asked, “ What are
your people like? We don’t know anything about them.
But the pumpkin was not to be put oft. “ You have them
shut up inside the hut 1 "

Then the old headman gave the word, two or three strong
men seized the pumpkin, chopped it to pieces, and built a
maring fire, in which it was consumed to ashes. I hey
scattered the ashes, and then released the boys, who went
home to their mothers.

We have already referred to versions in which the dead
ogre turns into a tree; in a Kiniramba story * collected by
Mr Frederick Johnson a porcupine, which Seems to partake
of the nature of an ogre or some other uncanny being, is
killed and buried under the fireplace. “ In the morning
they found a pumpkin growing." This began by speaking,
repeating everything that was said in its presence, and ended
by swallowing all the people: in the village. The Shambala
people also have a story in which a pumpkin figures as the
Swallowing Monster—but litre nothing is said about its
origin.

To return to the story of the ogre, some other versions
give it a more dramatic ending. In these he reaches his
home, hands the bag to his wife, and tells her to open it
and cook the food. She refuses, on finding that the bag
bites "; so, in turn, do his daughter and his son. He
shuts himself into the hut and opens the bag, with the result
already related; but instead of expiring on the spot he forces
his way out, and throws himself head first into a pool, or a
marsh, out of which a tree subsequently grows.

* Kuiwaba Fsli'totri, ji. })+.

t&3

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU
The Magic Flight

The second of the types mentioned above is well exem¬
plified by the story of Sikulumi, which is told, without much
variation in its main features, by Zulus, Xosas, Basuto, and
Baron ga.

One day n number of men seated by the lencc of the
chiefs cattle-fold saw several birds of a kind they had never
seen before perched on a tree not far off. The chief s son,
Sikulumi, said, " These are indeed beautiful birds. I want
to catch one and make a plume for my head [isidkodhia] of
his feathers.”

So he and some friends set off in pursuit of the birds,
which had already down away while they were seizing their
knobkerries. They followed them across country for a
long time, and at last succeeded in knocking down several.
By "this time the sun had set, and they wore far from
home; but as darkness fell they perceived the glimmer of a
distant fire, and made for it straightway. When they came
up with it i hey found it was burning man empty hut* which,
(hough thev could not know it, belonged to some awazimu.
They went in and made themselves at home, plucked their
birds, roasted, and ate them, after cutting off the heads,
which Sikulumi arranged all round the ledge of the hut.
Then they made plumes out of the feathers, anti when they
had done"so went to sleep—ail but Sikulumi.

In the middle af the night an ogre arrived, having left
his Follows nt a distance, and Sikulumi heard him muttering
to himself, '* Something smells very good here in my
house I ” 1 He looked at the sleepers, one by one'—-Siku¬
lumi, of course, pretending to be asleep—and said, I will
begin with this one, I wil eat that one next, and then that
one, and finish up with him whose little feet are white
from walking through the sand 1 " * lie then caught sight
of the birds* heads, crunched them up, and swallowed them,
before starting off' to call the other Ogres to the feast,

1 iWA/flw jam lafa Jhoowfa vgwiffit / Some vmjloeu him *»y>

" [ trad I hum art floh."

* In the Riiiigiteldoi) Ik uyi, M ., . [ibjdl get hi right dwfl to my link tie 1

184

THE AMAZLMU

Sikulumi at once roused his friends and told them what
had happened, and they, picking up their plumes and their
sticks, set off for home, running for all they Were worth.
They had gone quite a long way when Sikulumi remem¬
bered suddenly that he had left his plume behind, Ills
friends said, " l Don't go back. Take erne of ours. Why
should you go where cannibals are? ,p But he persisted.
He took his stick, rubbed it with "medicine/ and planted it
upright in the ground, say ing, 11 If this stick falls over without
rising again you will know that 1 am dead, and you must
tell my father when you get home. As long as it stands
firm I am safe; if it shakes you will know that I am running
for my life,”

Meanwhile the ogre had come back with his Iriends, and
when they found no one in the hut they were furious with
him for cheating them, so they killed and ate him.

On his way back to the hut Sikulumi saw an old woman
sitting by a big stone beside the path. She asked him where
he was going, and he told her* She gave him some fat, and
said, 11 If the ogres come after you put some of this on a
stone,” He reached the hut, and found a whole party seated
round the fire, passing his plume from hand to hand* On
the nrc a large pot was boiling, in which they were cooking
toads. 1 Sikulumi sprang m among them, snatched his plume
from an old hag who happened to be holding it at that
moment, and at the same time shattered the pot with a blow
of his knobkerrlc, scattering the toads all over the floor.
While the ogres were occupied In picking them up he made
his escape. They were not long, however, in following him,
and when he saw them he did as the friendly old woman
had told him and threw some of the fat on a stone. When
the ogres came up to this stone they began (it is not explained
why) to fight for the possession of it. One of them swallowed
it^ whereupon die others killed and ate him. Sikulumi thus

1 U thii i%nifjcanr l l eta not rcrtn-mU-f to hm torn it noticed by iny writer
on foJkk'jr j but 1 N yuttand patiw trdd rnr i bt *itdat rertitc tenoM, eat
frtffti (Of Etiadi) i§ a pan of their mifkil praettart, Tk j ricliirnl I b tEnnc,
a til tie fiirdifT nil, k nut cisj to u fldfin tand.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

gained some advantage, but soon they had nearly come up
with him again. He threw some more fat on a stone, and
the same thing happened as before. Again they started
after him, and this time he threw down his skin cloak, which
began to run off by itself. The ogres ran after it, and were
so long catching it that he was able to rejoin his friends, and
they all made their way home.

Here, properly, the story comes to an end, but the
Baronga add another adventure at a cannibal village, and
the Xosa version 1 gives the further incident of the ogres
again nearly coming up with them and being baffled by a
“ little man ” (not accounted for by the narrator) who turned
a large stone into a hut. They took refuge in it, and the
ogres, to whom the outside still looked like a stone, tried
to bite it, till they broke all their teeth and went away.

The young men then reached their own village, and found
that it had been swallowed up, with all its inhabitants, except
one old woman, by a monster called an tnabulele. This
episode really belongs to another story, which will be dealt
with in a later chapter. The tale then goes on to relate
Sikulumi’s courtship and marriage to the daughter of
Mangangezulu. It is not said that her family are cannibals,
though “ no one ever leaves the place of Mangangezulu,”
as they seem to be in the habit of killing strangers. By the
help of a friendly mouse Sikulumi escapes with the girl, and
she takes with her “ an egg, a milksack, a pot, and a smooth
stone.” When she throws down the first it produces a thick
mist, the milksack becomes a lake, the pot darkness, and
the stone a huge rock. Thus the pursuers are baffled, and
he reaches his home in safety.

The Ogre Husband

From the Duruma, a tribe living inland from Mombasa
to the west and north-west, comes the story of “ Mbodze
and the Zimwi ,” which forms a good illustration of our
third type.

There was a girl named Mbodze, who had a younger

1 TheaJ, Kaffir Folklore, p. 78.

186

THE AMA 2 IMU

sister, MatsezI, and a brother, Nyange. She went one day,
with six other girls, to dig day—either for plastering the
huts or for making pots, which is usually women's work.
There was a stone in the path, against which one after the
other stubbed her toes; Mbodzc, coming last, picked up
the stone and threw it away. It must be supposed that the
stone was an ogre who had assumed this shape for purposes
of his own ; for when the girls came hack with their Wads
of day they found that the Stone had become a huge rock,
so large that it shut out the view of their village, and they
could not even See where it ended. When they found that
they could not get past it the foremost in the line began
to sing:

“ Slone* let mt Q stujie ! 11 ii not I who threw you away, O s lone !!

Sha wha ihrcw ytm au-jiy is Mbodz*, MaWaJ 1 -? abter,

And Nyange 11 her brother.”

The rock moved aside just enough to let one person pass
through, and then closed again. The second girl sang the
same words, and was allowed to pass, and so did the rest,
till it came to Mbodze's turn. She, too, sang till she was
tired, but the rock did not move. At last the rock turned
into a zimwi —or, rather, we may suppose, he resumed his
proper shape—seized hold of M bodze, and asked her, *’ What
shall I do with you? Will you be my child, or my wife, or
my sister, or my aunt ? " She answered^ 11 You may do what
you like w T lth me. M So he said, " I will make you my wife **;
and he carried her off to his house.

There was a wild fig-tree growing in front of the zitnwis
house. Mbodzc climbed up into it, and sang:

41 Matseai, cme, eomt f Nyugc* tome, eome ! 11

But MatsezI and Nyange could not hear her.

She lived there for days and months, and the zimwi kept
her well supplied with food, til] he thought she was plump
enough to be eaten. Then he set out to call the other ogres,
who lived a lonjj way off and were expected to bring their
own firewood with them. No sooner had he gone than there

tSy

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

appeared a chitsimbakazi , 1 like the friendly gnome in the
Lamba story, who, by some magic art, put Mbodze into a
hollow bamboo and stopped up the opening with wax. She
then collected everything in the house except a cock, which
she was careful to leave behind, spat in every room, including
the kitchen, and on both the doorposts, and started.

Before she had gone very far she met the ogres, coming
along the path in single file, each one carrying his log of
wood on his head. The first one stopped her, and asked,
“ Are you Marimira’s wife? ”—Marimira being the ogre,
Mbodze’s husband.

She sang in answer, “ I am not Marimira’s wife: Mari¬
mira’s wife has not a swollen mouth [like me 2 J. Ndi ndi!
this great bamboo 1 ”

At each ndi she struck the bamboo on the ground, to show
that it was hollow, and the ogre, seeing that the upper end
was closed with wax, suspected nothing and passed on.

The other ogres now passed her, one after another. The
second was less easily satisfied than the first had been, and
insisted on having the bamboo unstopped, but when he
heard a great buzzing of bees 3 he said hastily, “ Close it!
Close it! ” The same happened with all the rest, except
the last, who was Marimira himself. He asked the same
question as the others, and was answered in the same way,
and then said, “What are you carrying in that stick?
Unstop it and let me see I ” The sprite, recognizing him,
said to herself, “ Now this is the end! It is Marimira;

I must be very cunning,” and she sang:

“ I am carrying honey, ka-ya-ya!

I am carrying honey, brother, ka-ya-ya!

Ndi ndi! this great bamboo! ”

1 This sprite will come into the next chapter. There is usually no indication as
to its sex, unless we can infer it from the termination -kazi, which in some languages
is a feminine suffix. But in a Swahili story very like this one the helpful being is
expressly said to be “ a little old woman.”

* The appearance of the chitsimbakaxi is not described, but one may assume that
it had some sort of a snout, like an animal.

* These bees are not accounted for; the text says simply : “ The bees buzzed at
him— <who-o-o-o I ” Perhaps we are to suppose that the sprite had filled up the
top end of the bamboo with honeycomb, and that the bees hatched out inside I
188

THE AMAZIMU

But he kept on insisting that he must ace, and at last she
took out the wax : the bees swarmed out and began to settle
upon him, and he cried in a panic, "Funikia / fumkia} Shut
them up J

So he parsed on with his guests, and the sprite went tin
her way*

The ogres reached Marimira's house, and he called
out, "Mhdzel 11 The spittle by the doorposts answered,
4 t Hp*l " I£c then cried, 11 Bring some water!” and a
voice from inside answered* iJ Presently 1 rT He got angry,
and, leaving the others seated on the mats, went in and
searched through the whole house* finding no one there and
hearing nothing but the buzzing of flics. Terrified—and,
as will be seen, not without reason—af the thought ut the
guests who would fed themselves to have been brought on
false pretences, he dug a hole to hide in and covered himself
with earth—but his one long tooth projected above the soil

It will be remembered that a cock had been left in the
house when everything else was removed \ and this cock now
began to crow, ii ‘K&kvik&k$-&-o! Father's tooth is outside 1 11

The guests, waiting outside, wondered* 41 Hallo I Listen
to that cock. What is he saying? If 14 Come I Go in and
see what Marimira is doing in there, for the aim is setting!
and we have far to go 1 " So they searched die house, and,
coming upon the tooth, dug him up and dragged him out'
side, where they killed, roasted, and ate him—all buE his
head. While doing so they sang :

44 Him who shall cat the heath we will eat him eoo/ !

After a while one of them bit off a piece from the head ;
the other* at once fell upon him and ate him. This went
on till only one was left. He fixed up a rope: to make a
swing and climbed into it, but the rope was not strong
enough; it broke, and he fell into the fire* 11 And he
began to cry out, / Atfiiytl [Mother]] Tm dying !

And he started to chew himself there in the fire," an ^
perished.

This incident as somewhat puzzling; it may be a

189

myths and legends of the bantu

misunderstood report ©fan cpifMjduin another story 1 iit which
the ogre tries to trick his victim by inducing him to get into
a swing fixed above a boiling cauldron, but is caught in hi$
own trap. The swing is quite a popular amusement in
Africa, wherever children can get a rope fixed to a con¬
venient branch «f a tree.

Meanwhile the chiaimbakazi had reached Mbodze’s
home. A little bird flew on ahead, perched outside the
house, and sang:

“ Metier, sweep the yard! MW?e ii coming] "

The mother said, *’ Just listen to that bird [ What does
it say? It is telling u» to sweep the yard, because Mbodze
is coming.” So she set to work at once, and presently the
sprite arrived and said, " Let me have a bath, and then I will
give you your daughter,”

She gave her a bath and rubbed her with oil and conked

S ruel for her. The sprite said, 11 Don't pour it into a big
ish for me \ put it into a coconut shell,” which the woman
did. When the chiisimbakazi had eaten she unstopped the
bamboo and let Mbodze out, to the great joy of tne whole
family, who could not do enough to show their gratitude.

The Wert-waif Husband

The ogre as bridegroom appears in a Chaga story, of a
kind found all over Africa,* and told to warn girls against
being overhard to please in the choice of a husband. But
the wooer is not so often called an ogre* as such, as a lion,
a hyena, or a leopard, who has assumed a man's shape for
the time being. Some of these stories arc more detailed
than the one 1 am about to give, and will come better into
the next chapter.

There was once a girl who refused to marry*® Her

1 Swcre* SwaAiH T&bi r p 3SS3 1 ** Tt* Sph-Tt mt\ ibr Winn's
1 ITjui by the Em? mi lh* Guld Coopt, the Ibm, the HauKi* and fllhen.

E ngliib-tpcaking people in Sierra Lnw cull the ojp? the Dcril (the stury fl butld
11 Marry the Ffevif, thcrei I lie Deri] w p*y but ffucfc A penes ii not kimwn 10
Aftlcm i p uni™ they hare hsaj4 of him from whins p«spk»

1 Golminq g p, j$ r

19 O

I'KtPAfcATlO!^ Fur * v'UI.L U'l.iiniMJ

X'AfAl .MiliHAb,: ,14 irura

THE AMAZIMlf

parents, too, discouraged all wooers who presented them-
selves, as they said they would not give their daughter to
any common man. (This is an unusual touch: in most
tales of this kind it is the parents who remonstrate and the
girl who is wilful)

On it certain day the sword-dance was going on, at this
girl's village, anti men came from the whole countryside to
take part in it. Among the dancers there appeared a tall
and handsome young man, wearing a broad ting like a halo
round his head, who drew all eyes by his grace and noble
bearing. The maiden fdl in love with him at first sight,
and her parents also approved of him. The dancing went
on for several days, during which time she scarcely took her
eyes off him. But one day* as he happened to turn his back,
she caught sight of a second mouth behind his head, and
said to her mother, “ That man is a rimnl tw They would
not believe it. u That fine fellow a rim ft l Nonsense! Just
you go with him and let him cat you, that's all I **

The suitor presented himself in due course, and the mar¬
riage look place. After spending some days with the bride's
parents the couple left for their home. But her brothers*
knowing the husband to be a rimu, felt uneasy, and follow ed
them, without their knowledge:, keeping in the bushes along¬
side die path. When they had gone some distance the
husband stopped and said, 41 Look back and tell me if you
can still see the smoke from your father's hut,” She looked,
and said that she could. They went on for another hour or
two, and then he asked her if she could sec the hills behind
her home. She said yes, and again they went on. At last
he asked her again if she could see the hills, and when he
found that she could not said, 11 What will you do now? I am
a rifttu. Climb up into this tree and weep your last tears,
for you must die 1 "

But her brothers, watching their chance, shut him with
poisoned arrows, and he died. She came down from the
tree, and the brothers took her home.

191

CHAPTER XIII: OF WERE-WOLVES, HALF¬
MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS, AND OTHER
MONSTERS

W ERE-WOLVES is a term used for convenience,
as being most familiar, but there are no wolves in
Africa, at any rate south of the Sahara. It is the
hyena (called 4 wolf ’ by South Africans), the lion, and the
leopard who have the unpleasant habit of assuming at will
the human form or, which comes to the same thing, sor¬
cerers have the power of turning themselves into these
animals; and some tribes even have the strange notion that
a course of treatment with certain medicines will enable a
person to take after his death the shape of any animal he
wishes.

I have already referred to the numerous stories of which
the theme is the 44 Robber (or Demon) Bridegroom. 0 In
one collected by R. E. Dennett on the Lower Congo the
original idea seems to have dropped out of sight: the chief
character is simply called a 4 robber ’ ( mpunia ); and in
Dr Doke’s book 1 he is a chiwanda ,* which this writer
translates 4 devil ’—a word I prefer to avoid in discussing
African beliefs.

44 The Choric Story of the Lion,” also given by Dr Doke, 3
is a fairly good specimen of this type, but is without the
usual opening. Most stories of this kind begin by saying
that a girl refused every offer of marriage, sometimes
imposing a difficult, or even impossible, condition on her
suitors.

The Girl who married a Lion

A lion 44 went to a village of human beings and married.”

It is not expressly said that he changed his shape, but this
seems to be implied in the following sentence: 44 And the

1 Lamba Folklore y p. 85.

1 The Balamba distinguish between chrwanda (‘ demon or evil spirit ’), sisim'we
C °£ re *)> mukupe (* goblin,* * half-man,* also called mupisi and chinku'voaila) y and
akachekulu (pi. utuchekulu) (* gnome *).

8 Lamba Folklore , p. 107.

192

WERE-WOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

people thought that maybe it was but a man and not a wild
creature. 0

In due course the couple had a child. Some time after
this the husband proposed that they should visit his parents,
and they set out, accompanied by the wife’s brother. In
several parallel stories a younger brother or sister of the
bride desires to go with her, and when she refuses follows
the party by stealth, but there is no indication of this here.

At the end of the first day’s journey they all camped in
the forest, and the husband cut down thorn-bushes and made
a kraal ( mutanda ), after which he went away, saying that he
was going to catch some fish in the river. When he was
gone the brother said to his sister, 44 He has built this kraal
very badly,” and he took his axe and cut down many
branches, with which to strengthen the weak places.

Meanwhile the husband had gone to seek out his lion
relations, and when they asked him, 44 How many animals
have you killed?” he replied, “Two and a young one.”
When darkness fell he 44 had become a huge male lion,”
and led the whole clan (with a contingent of hyenas) to
attack his camp. Those inside heard the stealthy footfalls
and sat listening. The lions hurled themselves on the
barrier, trying to break through, but it was too strong, and
they fell back, wounded with the thorns. He who by day had
been the husband growled : 44 M . . .,” and the baby inside
the kraal responded : “M . . Then the mother sang :

“ The child has bothered me with crying; watch the dance!

Walk with a stoop; watch the dance! ”

The were-lion’s father, quite disgusted, said, “You have
brought us to a man who has built a strong kraal; we cannot
eat him.” And as day was beginning to break they all
retired to the forest.

When it was light the husband came back with his fish,
and said that he had been detained, adding, 44 You were
nearly eaten,” meaning that his absence had left them ex¬
posed to danger. It seems to be implied that the others
were taken in by his excuses, but the brother, at any rate,
n 193

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

m us £ ha ve had his susp icions. When the husband had gone
oil' again, ostensibly to fish, he said, “ See, it was that
husband of yours who wanted to eat us last night.” So he
went and walked about, thinking over the position. Presently
hi; saw the head of a gnome {akachekulii) projecting from a
cleft in a tree; it asked him why he had come, and, on being
told, said, “You are already done for; your brother-in-law
is an ogre that has finished off all the people in this district.”
The creature then asked him to sweep out the midden inside
his house 1 —and after he had done so told him to cut down
the tree, which it that hollowed out and made into a drum,
stretching two prepared skins over the ends. It then slung
the drum round the man’s waist, and said, “ Do as if you
were going to do this **■—that is, raise himself from the
ground. And, behold, he found himself rising into the air,
and he reached the top of a tree. The gnome told him to
jump down, and he did so quite easily, Then it said, “Put
your sister in the drum and go home.” So he called her,
and, having stowed her in it, with the baby, rose up and sat
in the tnre-top, where he began to beat the drum. The lion,
hearing the sound, followed it, and when he saw the young
man in the tree said, “ Erother-in-iaw, just beat a little “ ;
so the man beat the drum and Sang :

“ B<xm, txM sounds the little drum

Of die sounding drum, sounds the little drum!

Ogre,* dance, sounds the little drum

Of the sounding drum, sounds the little drum! ”

The lion began to dance, and the skins he was wearing
fell off and were blown away by the wind, and he had to go
back and pick them up. Meanwhile the drum carried the
fugitives on, and the lion pursued them as soon as he had
recovered his skins. Having overtaken them, he called
up into the tree, “ Brother-in-law, show me my child 1 ” and
the following dialogue took place t

What, you lion, am I going to show you a relation of
mine? ”

1 Mcihiagp crjilcnll^ tbe holtcir tms J

1 II u Dotioeiblc tbut [be nirne lifimw fi bcir applied lu tbe ]jdd*

*94

WERE-WOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

“ Would I eat my child ? ” conveniently ignoring the fact
that he had himself announced the killing of “ the young
one.”

“How about the night you came? You would have
eaten us 1 ”

Again the brother-in-law beat the drum, and the lion
danced (apparently unable to help himself), and as before
lost his skins, stopped to pick them up, and began the
chase again, while the man went springing along the tree-
tops like a monkey. At last he reached his own village, and
“ his mother saw as it were a swallow settle in the court¬
yard” of his home. She said, “Well, I never 1 Greeting,
my child 1 ” and asked where his sister was. He frightened
her at first by telling her that she had been eaten by her
husband, who was really a lion, but afterwards relented and
told her to open the drum. Her daughter came out with
the baby, safe and sound, and the mother said, praising her
son, “ You have grown up ; you have saved your sister 1 ”
She gave him five slave-girls—a form of wealth still accepted
in Lambaland not so very long ago.

The lion had kept up the pursuit, and reached the out¬
skirts of the village, but, finding that his intended victims
were safe within the stockade, he gave up and returned to
the forest.

The Hyena Bridegroom

A story from Nyasaland is different enough from the above
to be interesting. I was told it, many years ago, by a bright
little boy at Blantyre; but, as might be expected, he did
not know it perfectly, and very likely I missed some points
in writing it down from his dictation. I have therefore
pieced it out from another version, written out much later
by a Nyanja man, Walters Saukila, which clears up several
difficult points.

There was a girl in a certain village who refused all suitors,
though several very decent young men had presented them¬
selves. Her parents remonstrated in vain ; she only said,

“ I don’t like the young men of our neighbourhood; if

*95

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

one came from a distance I might look at him I ” So they
left off asking for her, and she remained unmarried for an
unusually Jong time.

One day a handsome stranger arrived at the village and
presented himself to the girl’s parents. He had all the
appearance of a rich man ; he was wearing a good cloth, had
ivory bracelets on his arms, and carried a gun and a powder-
horn curiously ornamented with brass wire. The maiden
exclaimed, on seeing him, “This is the one I like!” Her
father and mother were more doubtful, as was natural, since
no one knew anything about him ; but in spite of all they
could say she insisted on accepting him. lie was, in fact,
a hyena, who had assumed human shape for the time being.

The usual marriage ceremonies took place, and the
husband, in accordance with Yau and Nyanja custom,
settled down at Lite village of his parents-in-law, and made
himself useful in the gardens for the space of several months,
At the end of that time he said that he had a great wish
to visit his own people. His wife, whom he had purposely
refrained frum asking, begged him to let her accompany
him. \V hen all was ready for the journey her little brother,
who was suffering from sore eyes, said he wanted to go
too; but his sister, ashamed to be seen in company with
such an object, refused him sharply. He waited till they
had started, and then followed, keeping out of sight, till he
was too far from home to he sent back,

They went on for many days, and at last arrived at the
hyenas' village, where the bride was duly welcomed by her
husband’s relations. She was assigned a hut to sleep in,
but, to keep her brother out of the way, she sent him into
the hen-house.

In the middle of the night, when she was asleep, the people
of the village took their proper shape and, called together
by the hyena husband, marched round the hut, chanting:

“ Tinfiijt lartsfwnt! ”

f u Let meat the game, but it i» not fat yet-"]

The little boy in the hen-house was awoke and heard
196

WEREWOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

them; his worst fears were confirmed, (W. Saukila says :
“ Though that one was small as to his size, he was of sur¬
passing sensed*) In the morning he told his sister what he
had heard, but she would not believe him. So he told her
to tie a string to her toe and put the end outside where he
could get it. This he drew into the hen-house, and that
night, when the hyenas began their march, he pulled the
strings and awakened his sister. She was now thoroughly
frightened, and when he asked her nest morning, 11 Did
you hear them, sister? she had nothing more to say.

The Magic Boat

The boy then went to his brother-in-law and asked him
for the loan of an axe and an adze. The man (as he appeared
to be), who had no notion that he was detected and every
reason to show himself good-natured, consented at once,
and watched him going off into die bush, well pleased that
the child should amuse himself.

The latter soon found and cut down a tree such as he
needed, and then began to shape a thing which he called
ffgw/f 1, —something in the nature of a small boat. When
he had finished it he got into it and sang:

Chin&tih ikmg* dih^dtM rf
My bou t I iwiagJ awing]”]

And the nguli began to rise up from the earth. As he
went on singing it rose higher and higher, till it floated above
the tops of the tallest trees. The hyena-villagers all rushed
out to gaze at this wonder, and the boy's sister came with
them. Then he sang once more:

[“My btmtl CotiW down I down,^-ir/ [erptoHre of dcurcoding] com*
down f w j

i Ngmli lj prtfperty a *pin>EiiiJ£-[op—1 toy very popular in African Yiftage*.
Cldwjpi/r\ (be word used later an, meios 1 laiire neph. Th» object bar hitherto
been A punk. The Rr*. H- B. Bjj™, {Nja^a-Eig&ik Ficabwkij) nju
“ CkmxUli tn a nrthc ftqry ifqwntly play* the pm of t he ‘ mugiz carper 1 in e he
AMw," The cxptuuitwd ibnl *t wai "Jikfi i anoc to look at " u due
to Wilten Slukila.

*97

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

And it floated gently down to the ground. The people
were delighted, and cried out to him to go up again. He
made some excuse for a little delay, and whispered to his
sister to get her bundle (which, no doubt, she had ready)
and climb in. She did so, and when both were safely
stowed he sang his first song once more. Again the vessel
rose, and this time did not come down again. The spec¬
tators, after waiting in vain, began to suspect that their prey
was escaping, and shouted tp the boy to come back, but no
attention was paid to them, and the nguli quickly passed out
of sight. Before the day was out they found themselves
above the courtyard of their home, and the boy sang the
words which caused them to descend, so that they alighted
on their mother's grain-mortar. The whole family came
running out and overwhelmed them with questions; the

f irl could not speak for crying with joy and relief, and her
rother told the whole story, winding up with: “ Look
here, sister, you thought I was no good, because I had sore
eyes—but who was it heard them singing, 1 Let us eat her! 1
and told you about it? " The parents, too, while praising
the boy, did not fail to point the moral for the benefit
of their foolish daughter, who, some say, had to remain
unmarried to the end of her days.

Anyone who has heard a native story-teller chant ChingsH
ihttngd cannot help wondering whether wc have a far-off
echo of it in Uncle Remus's “ IngJe-go-jang, my joy, my
joy 1 ” though it occurs in an entirely different story.

The Half-men

Some of the amaizimu, as Stated in the last chapter, are
described as having only half a liody, hut this by no means
applies to all of them, and there is a distinctsetoffialf-bcinga
who cannot be classed as ogres,

In NyasaJand a being called Chiruwi is, or was, believed
to haunt lonely places in the forest, carrying an axe. He
has one eye, one arm, one leg, the other half of his body
being made of wax. He challenges any man he meets to
wrestle with hid; if the man can overcome him he offers

198

Poximtur- Maize

J Tft f ItMimf M, f A.il r

WEREWOLVES, HALF-MEW, GNOMES, GOBLINS

to show him “ many medicines " if he will Jet him go, and
telL him the properties of the various trees and herbs. But
if thi: man is thrown 11 he returns no more to his village; he

dies."

A little boy at Ntumbi, in the West Shire district, told
me a curious story in which “ a big bird/' with one wing,
one eye, and one leg, carried some children across a flooded
river.

In a tale of the Bechuana, which is something like this,
the children are pursued by an ogre, take refuge up a tree,
and are rescued before he is able to cut it down by a " great
thing called PAuku-pAuku /’ which is not further described.
What scema to be a parallel version attributes the rescue to
“ a great bird," which " hovered over them and said, 1 Huld
fast to me,' ” There is no indication that this bird was
without the usual number of wings and legs; but it is quite
evident that he is, as the editor of the South African Folk¬
lore Journal i remarks, “ a personage worth studying,"

A fuller form of the story, however, was obtained by the
Rev, €. Hoffmann among the Bapcdi in the Transvaal,
But even this throws no light on the bird’s nature; he is
simply called nonyana votze t "a beautiful bird/’ and carries
the children home under his wings. In retelling it in a
more popular form for young readers* Mr Hoffmann calls
him a peacock, and represents him as such in his illustra¬
tion ; but this must be a picturesque addition of his own,
for the peacock was quite unknown in South Africa till
introduced by Europeans, and it is very unlikely that the
original narrators had ever heard of it.

The Baronga tell of a village of “one-legged people”
{mangahangahtiisa\ who also possess wings, or, at any rate,
the power of flying. They seem to be quite distinct from
ogres—called in Ronga simply “eaters of men," though
they sometimes have another name, i'jahukulumukumbu,

A girl who escapes from the cannibals' village is, latex on,
carried off by the flying half-men ; but there is no sugges¬
tion that they intend to cat her.

1 V»|, j r Pan I, January 1879, p. ti. 1 Afeikatittktr Gmrvatr, p. 5.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

In the story of Namachuke, however, the one-legged
beings are certainly cannibal ogres. Part of this story is
much like that given in the last chapter, of the girl escaping
from the ogre’s house; but the opening is different, and
there is also an unexpected sequel: Namachuke and her
co-wives are beguiled by curiosity into leaving their home
and following the monsters, and are devoured, together
with the unfortunate children who have come to look for
them.

Similarly, the Zulu amadhlungundhlebe , who had only one
leg, were said to be man-eaters.

But these are exceptions: the genuine half-men are more
akin to Chiruwi, though their character varies; some are
merely terrifying, like the one formerly believed to haunt
the Cameroons Mountain, to see whom was death.

Sechobochobo of the Baila is “ a kind of wood-sprite,
described as a man with one arm and one eye, living in the
forest; he brings good luck to those who see him; he
takes people and shows them trees in the forest which can
serve as medicines.

But the accounts of this being would seem to vary, for
elsewhere we read, “ If one chances to see it he will die.”

Sikulokobuzuka

The Basubiya say that Sikulokobuzuka is wax on one side
of him; the leg on the other is like that of an animal.
Some say that he has a wife and children, in form like
himself. He lives on wild honey, and is reported to have
a hut made of elephants’ tusks and python skins, but his
village, where are stored many pots of honey, meat, and fat,
is invisible to human eyes. His axe and spears are made
of wax. The account given to M. Jacottet by Kabuku, a
young man of the Subiya tribe, scarcely bears out the state¬
ment made by some that it is death to meet Sikuloko¬
buzuka—fortunately, he has a shorter name, Chilube,
which will be more convenient to use. A certain man,
Mashambwa, 1 told Kabuku that while looking for honey in
1 “Textes Subiya,” No. 47, p. 138.

200

WERE-WOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

the forest he heard a honey-guide calling j he whistled to
it, and it led him to a tree containing a bees’ nest He lit
a torch, dim bed the tree, smoked the bees out, and had
just taken the honey, when he saw Chilubc approaching.
He came down, carrying his honey on a wooden platter,
and met Chilubc, who at once demanded it. Mashambwa
refused, and Chilubu said, “ Come, then, let us wrestle.”
They did so, Mashambwa taking care to get his opponent
off the grass anti on to a sandy place, where, after a long
struggle, he succeeded in throwing him. He said, 11 Shall
[ kill you? ” and Chi lube replied, ' Don't kill me, my chief,
and I will get you the medicine for bewitching people and
killing them," Mashambwa said, " 1 don’t want that,"
and Chilubc said, " There is another, which helps you to
get plenty of meat." Ho agreed to accept this, and Chilubc
said, " Let me go, and I will get it for you," So he showed
him all the herbs and trees which possessed healing proper¬
ties or were good as charms for luck in hunting, or finding
food in other ways, or for gaining the favour ot one’s chief,

Mash&mbwa set off homeward, but soon lost his way
and wandered about till he once more met Chilubc, who
guided him to his village, telling him that he must not speak
to anyone or answer if spoken to. This seems to have been
a recognized rule, for when M ash a mb w a reached home and
the people found that he did not respond to their greetings
they knew that he hud met Chilubc, and let him alone, but
built a hut for him in a place apart.

Mashambwa ky ill in that hut for a whole year. Chilubc
arrived as soon as those who had built it had left, and thence¬
forth came regularly, bringing him food and medicine.
At last he recovered, and, looking out over the forest one
day, saw' a number of vultures. This appears to have Ikjch
the sign that his period of silence and seclusion was over,
for he called out, '* Look at my vultures over there I " and
the villagers went to the spot and found a freshly killed
animal. Su they brought back the meat and gave him
some, and he ate with them and took up his old life again.

After this it seems hardly fair to dismiss Chilubc as " cruel

201

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

and wicked ” or 44 a strange and maleficent being ” (in
M. Jacottet’s words, “etre etrange et malfaisant ”). Nor is it
apparent why an up-to-date hunter, meeting Chilube in the
forest, should, without provocation, have pointed his gun
at him and set his dogs on him. Chilube fled—he is said
(not unnaturally) to fear dogs and guns—and one would not
be surprised to learn that no more medicines were shown to
people in that neighbourhood.

In Angola 1 we find that Fenda Madia is helped by an
old woman with “ one arm, one leg, one side of face, and
one side of body,” and among the Wangonde a similarly
formed old woman takes some girls across a river.

There is a curious development of the same notion in
a story about a jealous woman who tricked her co-wife into
throwing away her baby. When she found out that the
mother had recovered her child and received rich gifts in
addition she threw her own baby into the river—and
recovered it, indeed, but only to find that it had but half
a body . 2

There is a strange legend of the Wagogo to the effect
that the first heaven (there are four in all, one above the
other) is inhabited by half-beings of this kind; I do not
know whether such a notion has been recorded elsewhere.

Perhaps the lake-god Mugasha, on the Victoria Nyanza,
who has only one leg, should be mentioned in this con¬
nexion ; and I recall a curious statement made by a Giryama,
Aaron Mwabaya, at Kaloleni in 1912 : “ When the print
of a human foot is seen side by side with a hyena’s spoor
the traces are those of a sorcerer who is on one side human,
on the other a hyena.” This I have never heard elsewhere :
—people in Nyasaland had a different way of accounting
for human footprints beside a hyena’s track, but that is
“ another story.”

Gnomes and Spirits

We have already come across Dr Doke’s ‘gnomes,’
fearsome beings called by the Balamba “ little ancient ones,”

1 Chatelain, Folk-tales of Angola, p. 32. * See ante, p. 96.

202

WERE-WOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

who kill their victims with “ one long tooth, blood-red and
sharp.” But, as we have seen in the story of the lion, they
are by no means always malignant. They may be of either
sex.

The chitsimbakazi of the Duruma perhaps belongs to the
same family; their neighbours the Giryama have a katsu-
mbakazi —no doubt the same word—of which W. E. Taylor
remarks that it is “ said to be seen occasionally in daylight.
It is usually malignant.” He does not describe its appear¬
ance, beyond saying that its stature is very low—a point on
which it seems to be sensitive: “ When it meets anyone
it . . . asks him, ‘ Where did you see me? ’ If the person
is so unlucky as to answer, * Just here,’ he will not live many
days; but if he is aware of the danger and says, * Oh, over
yonder,’ he will be left unharmed, and sometimes even
something lucky will happen to him.” 1

A similar story used to be told by the Zulus of the
Bushmen, only, instead of inflicting death by some occult
means, they would retaliate on the spot with a poisoned
arrow.

The “ little people ” in Nyasaland, known by a name
which means “Where did you see me?” are similarly
quick to resent this insult.

The forests of the Tana Valley are haunted by a thing
which the Wapokomo call kitunusi , which behaves like
Chiruwi or Chilube, though not shaped like them. As far
as one can gather, its form is that of a normal human being,
and it does not seem to be particularly small. There are
two kinds: one walks about upright, “ like a child of
Adam,” as my informant said, the other hitches itself about
in a sitting position, though not devoid of legs. It wears
a cloth of kartiki (dark blue cotton stuff): if anyone who
wrestles with it can manage to tear off a bit of this his
fortune is made: “ he puts it away in his covered basket
[kidzamanda] and becomes rich ”; presumably the cloth
multiplies itself, but this is not explained. Those who
meet the kitunust and do not stand up to it boldly are apt to

1 Giryama Vocabulary, p. j*.

203

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

be stricken with paralysis in all their limbs, or with some
other illness

Two other creatures, classified by Professor Meinhof
as 41 haunting demon* M (jSpukdcimoften) y are, or were some
time ago, to be found in the Tana forests. One is the
ngojama, in sight like to a man, but with a long claw (" an
iron nail,” say some) in the palm of his right hand. Other
people, the Gall a, for instance, say that the ngnjama is simply
a lion who has grown too old to hunt game and taken to
eating men. 'T his is curiously borne out by the very
similar names for ' lion ' in Zulu, Ilerero, and Tswa 1 ; in
the last-named Language, moreover, it is confined to man-
eating lions. I was told, by Pokomo natives, a strange
story about & man named Bombe, which to some slight
extent resembles Mashambwa's adventure with Chihibe.
The ngojama came upon Horn be when he was up a tree
taking honey, and waited to seize him when he came down,
but Kombe handed him the best pieces of honeycomb, and
made his escape while the monster lingered to eat them,
men he saw Bombe in his canoe, half-way across the river,
he stood on the bank, crying, "JVail tcw7 If I had know n
I would not have eaten the honey ! tP There is no suggestion
of a contest (as with the kisutmsi)^ and it is evident that the
ngojama cannot swim. His hist words to Bom be were*
u Go ! You are a man ! But wc shall meet another day* Pr
Tie tuber forest-haunting bogy h the ngohke t described
to me as a huge serpent—so huge that when my informant's
father saw him at night he took him for a great dead tree
—a w hite bulk which would be clearly visible even without
a moon. When he got nearer he saw that it was a mon¬
strous snake, with luminous ears (a strange touch), which
he had at first taken for tiames* They were like the yellow
flowers 1 hid just picked from a bush—which, if I remember
rightly, were something like the Corck&rus of our gardens*
This seems to have been all I could gather about the
wg&Mt p. A wri ter i n Blatkwiw d's Magazine 3 some yea rs ago

1 ^hz IJDgLLigr fit a tdlic near Jptmnbue* in Focmgpot East Africa.

* NavtmlvT (917*

204

WERE-WOLVES, HALF-MEN, GNOMES, GOBLINS

gave an account of what he had heard from the natives
about this being, but his description rather fits the ngcj/imth
He took it to be an anthropoid ape—hitherto unknown in
Africa cast of the Great Lakes. He was shown a print of
its foot (which, in fact, seemed to show a Jong claw), and
heard uncanny roarings at night, which people assured him
were the voice of the But the print, of which

a tracing was procured, was credibly pronounced to have
been made by the foot of an ostrich; and the cry of the
ostrich is powerful enough to be heard at a great distance,
especially by night.

About the also enumerated among the dangers of

the Tana forests, ! did not succeed in getting any informa¬
tion, beyond the fact that <p the Swahili call it dalt£ y 9f which
is du&b^ the Arabic name for the bear. In the Pokomo
New Testament (Revelation xuij l) 1 bear f i& transited
kaduilty and ngujafnrt ia the rendering of " dragon/ There
are, so far aa known at present, no bears in Africa south
of the Sahara—the * Nandi bear/ concerning which many
reports have been in circulation, rs now generally held to
be a mythical animal. In fact, a Zanzibar man who saw
a bear for the first time in his life in the London Zoo could
only describe it as 14 the illegitimate offspring of a hyena pr
(juft mwan# hartmu wa jisi)*

CHAPTER XIV: THE SWALLOWING
MONSTER

T 'HE legend of a monster which swallows the popula¬
tion of a village—or, indeed, of the whole country-^
and is subsequently slain by a boy hero seems to be
current ail over Africa. We have found part of it fitted
into one nf the ogre tales already dealt with, and we shall
find some versions incorporating parts of stories which,
strictly speaking, should be classed under other headings.
McCall Theal 1 remarked :

Then: is a peculiarity in many of these stories which makes
them capable of almost indefinite expansion. They are so con¬
structed that parts of one can be made to fit into parts of another.
So as to form a new tatc. . . . These tales arc made up of frag¬
ments which are capable of a variety of combi nations. 51

This might be taken to imply that conscious invention
was at work in so constructing the stories, but it is not
necessary to assume that this was the writer’s meaning.
Classical mythology affords numerous examples of the way
in which Heating traditions attach themselves to each other
without special intention on anyone's part. After writing
has been introduced and poets have given literary form to
these traditions the case is different. African folklore has
not in general reached this stage.

The main points of the legend arc these:

A whole population is swallowed by a monster.

One woman escapes and gives birth to a non.

This son kills the monster and releases the people.
They make him their chief.

Some versions add that the people in time become envious
and plan his destruction (here the incidents resemble those
of Iluveanc’s story); and these, again, vary considerably.
.Some say that he triumphed over his enemies in the end;
others that he was slain by them.

1 The h iitrtrlin oF SuPlh Africa y wb* iIki crJkcted th* f&Lkiare of the
1 A'lipfr F*ZWW, ji, til.

206

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

In most of these legends the boy is miraculously
precocious, like Hlakanyana and Kachirambe; but occa¬
sionally, like Theseus, he has to wait till he is grown up.
In one his mother tells him to lift a certain stone, several
years in succession, and when at last he is able to do it he
is reckoned strong enough for the great enterprise.

The Whale and the Dragon

E. B. Tylor 1 was of opinion that this legend is a kind of
allegorical nature-myth.

Day is daily swallowed up by night, to be set free at dawn, and
from time to time suffers a like but shorter durance in the maw
of the Eclipse and the Storm-cloud. Summer is overcome and
prisoned by dark Winter, but again set free. It is a plausible
opinion that such scenes from the great nature-drama of the
conflict of light and darkness are, generally speaking, the simple
facts which in many lands and ages have been told in mythic
shape, as legends of a Hero or Maiden devoured by a monster and
hacked out again or disgorged.

The point is illustrated by examples from the myths of
the Burman Karens, the Maoris, and the North American
Indians, as well as by the stories of Ditaolane and Unto-
mbinde, about to be related here. Tylor traces to the same
origin the legends of Perseus and Andromeda (ultimately
modernized and Christianized as St George and the Dragon),
Herakles and Hesione, and Jonah’s 4 whale.’ This last
introduces a different element, which finds a parallel in
some African stories we shall have to consider in a later
chapter.

But such allegorizing, as Wundt 2 has shown, is foreign
to the thought of primitive people. They may think that
the lightning is a bird and that an eclipse is caused by
something trying to eat up the sun or moon ; but this myth
of day and night is too abstract a conception for them.

It may be worth noting that a Christian writer of
Basutoland has made use of the Swallower legend as a dim

1 Primitive Culture , vol. i, p. 334 syq.

* V&lkerpsychologie , vol. v. Part II, p. 268.

207

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

foreshadowing of the promise of a Redeemer. 1 In his some¬
what mystical story Mvelt oa B&chaleia (jf'A* Traveller to the
Rmi) the old men relate it to Fokki, the young dreamer,
tormented by the “obstinate questionings “ of 'whence*
and ‘whither.’ And, indeed, it might well lend itself to
such an interpretation.

Khodumodumo, or Kammapa

The Kasuto tell the legend as follows.

Once upon a rime there appeared in our country a huge,
shapeless thing called Khodumodumo (but some people call
it Kammapa), It swallowed every living creature that
came in its way. At last it came through a pass in the
mountains into a valley where there were several villages;
it Went to one after another, and swallowed the people,
the cattle, the goats, the dogs, and the fowls. In the last
village was a woman who had just happened to sit down
on the ash-heap. She saw the monster coming, smeared
herself all over with ashes, and ran into the calves’ pen,
where she crouched on the ground. Khodumodu mo,
having finished all the people and animals, came and looked
into the place, but could see nothing moving, for, the
woman being smeared with ashes and keeping quite still,
it took her for a stone. It then turned and went away, but
when it reached the narrow pass (or w ek} at the entrance to
the valley it had swelled to such a size that it could not get
through, and was forced to stay where it was.

Meanwhile the woman in the calves* pen, who bad been
expecting a baby shortly, gave birth tn a boy. She laid
him down on the ground and left him for a minute or two,
while she looked for something to make a bed for him.
When she came back she found a grown man sitting there,
with two or three spears in his hand and a string of divining-
bones (ditaola *) round his neck. She said, “ Hallo, man I

1 Tho-ERU Mafi*fi.r d who h*a snore recently written an huiim^aJ romance CAdta,
ilitrduofd Id EngEfsb rtaden through the medium of Mr DuIEdh\ tiattaliLian.

3 So m tome vereunnvof tbc isccy he ii called UlljEjlanc [ in O theft he f* nurdy
Mcwhany^na, which cnei&i 'little boy

2o8

“He built himself a Fine Kraal”

The lower picture is from a photo by A. M. Duggan-Cronin, atui is reproduced by permission of the

McGregor Museum, Kimberley • 2 °°

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

Where is my child? ” and he answered, " It is I, Mother ! ”
Then he asked what had become of the people, and the
cattle, and the dogs, and she told him.

“ Where is this thing, Mother? ”

“ Come out and see, my child.”

So they both went out and climbed to the top of the wall
surrounding the calves’ kraal, and she pointed to the pass,
saying, “ That object which is filling the nek, as big as
a mountain, that is Khodumodumo.”

Ditaolane got down from the wall, fetched his spears,
sharpened them on a stone, and set off to the end of the
valley, where Khodumodumo lay. The beast saw him, and
opened its mouth to swallow him, but he dodged and went
round its side—it was too unwieldy to turn and seize him —
and drove one of his spears into it. Then he stabbed it
again with his second spear, and it sank down and died.

He took his knife, and had already begun to cut it open,
when he heard a man’s voice crying out, ” Do not cut me 1 ”
So he tried in another place, and another man cried out,
but the knife had already slashed his leg. Ditaolane then
began cutting in a third place, and a cow lowed, and some
one called out, “ Don't stab the cow 1 ” Then he heard
a goat bleat, a dog bark, and a hen cackle, but he managed
to avoid them all, as he went on cutting, and so, in time,
released all the inhabitants of the valley. .

There was great rejoicing as the people collected their
belongings, and all returned to their several villages praising
their young deliverer, and saying, “ This young man must
be our chief.” They brought him gifts of cattle, so that,
between one and another, he soon had a large herd, and
he had his choice of wives among their daughters, bo he
built himself a fine kraal and married and settled down,
and all went well for a time.

Ingratitude of the Tribe

But the unintentionally wounded man never forgot his
grudge, and long after his leg was healed began, when he
noticed signs of discontent among the peopie, to drop a
n 2 °9

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

cunning word here and there and encourage those who were
secretly envious of Ditaolane's good fortune, as well as those
who suspected him because, as they said, he could not be
a normal human being, to give voice to their feelings.

So before long they were making plans to get rid of their
chief. They dug a pit and covered it with dry grass—just
as the Hapcdi did in order to trap Huveane—but he avoided
it. They kindled a great fire in the courtyard, intending
to throw him into frj but a kind of madness seized them ;
they began to struggle with each other, and at last threw
in one of their own party. The same thing happened
when they tried to push him over a precipice j in this case
he restored to life the man who was thrown over and
killed.

Next they got up a big hunt, which meant an absence of
several days from the village. One night when the party
were sleeping in a cave they induced the chief to take the
place farthest from the entrance, and when they thought
he was asleep stole out and built a great fire in the cave-
mouth. But, less successful than the’MacLeods in the case
of the MacDonalds of Eigg, when they looked round they
saw him standing among them.

After this, feeling that nothing would soften their inveterate
hatred, he grew weary of defeating their stratagems, and
allowed them to kill him without offering any resistance.
Something of the same kind is told of Chaminuka, the
Prophet of the Mashona, as will be seen in due course.
Some of the Basuto, when relating this story, add, “ It is
said that his heart went out and escaped and became a
bird/'

The Guardian Ox

The legend of Ditaolane, however, does not always end
like this, on a bitter note of sorrow for human ingratitude.
One version makes him escape from his enemies, like
HJakanyana, by turning himself into a stone, which one of
them throw's across a river; but this, somehow, does not
seem quite in character.

210

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

A Sesuto variant 1 ascribes his safety to a favourite ox,
which warns him of danger, cannot be killed without its
own consent, and returns to life after being slaughtered and
eaten. The peculiar relationship between DilaoUne and
this ox is not explained: but in a Zulu tale which resembles
this episode (though it has no reference to the Swallowing
Monster) the ox is said to have been born shortly before
the boy and to have been brought up with him.® The latter,
with two others of the same kind, being quite distinct from
the subject of this chapter, will not be dwelt on here. In
this version the conclusion is so well worked out in con¬
nexion with the earlier part that it does not strike one as a
mere accidental mixing up of two stories. It seens, how¬
ever, to stand alone among the many variants of the
Khodumodumo legend.

A notable point is that the young man s own mother,
frightened by the neighbours’ talk, turns against him and
tries to poison him. Warned by the ox, he refuses the
bread she gives him ; his father afterwards takes it by
accident and dies. The ox said: " You see, you would
have died yourself; your mother does not love you. Here,
as in the case of Humane, wesce natural affect ion overcome
by the fear of one who is regarded as an uncanny heing.
The circumstances of his birth would have become known,
and, the villagers would argue, a being so powerful tor goo
would be equally capable of doing harm, quite regar css
of the fact that he had never given them cause to distrust

him.

Untombin.de and the Squatting Monster

In the Zulu tale of Untom bind© the tofummfdiw
lives in the Itulange, a mythical river not to be located
nowadays. The names applied to this monster in the course
of the story show that It is looked upon as a female,

A chiefs daughter, Untombindc, goes, with a number of

Ubcfleopn Xi' MaciiWcU/'

" bEoiitfU tq tj-ai [iiiff* bfiirdcd hisiiatef.

21 1

myths and legends of the bantu

other girls, to bathe in the Ilutange, against the warnings
of her parents ; “ To the Uulange nothing goes and returns
again ; it goes there for ever.*' The girls iound, on coming
out of the water, that the clothes and ornaments they had
left on the bank had disappeared; they knew that the
uiqvqumadnm must have taken them, and one after another
petitioned politely for their return. Untombinde, however,
said, "I will never beseech the isiququmad^u" and was
immediately seised by the monster and dragged down into
the water.

Her companions went home and reported what had
happened. The chief, though he evidently despaired of
recovering her ( H Behold, she goes there for ever ! ")> sent
a troop of young men to “ fetch the isiququtnadevu, which
has killed Untoitibinde.” The warriors found the monster
squatting nn the river-bank, and were swallowed up, every
one, before they could attack her. She then went on to
the chiefs kraal, swallowed up all the inhabitants, with
their dogs and their cattle, as well as all the people in the
surrounding country.

Among the victims were '* two beautiful children, 1 much
beloved," Their father, however, escaped, took his two
clubs and his large spear, and went his way, saying, " It is
[ who will kill the hiququmadcux .”

By this time the monster had left the neighbourhood,
and the man went on seeking her till he met with some
buffaloes, whom he asked, 11 Whither has Usiauqumadevu a
gone? She has gone away with my children!" The
buffaloes directed him on his way, and he then came across
some leopards, of whom he asked the same question, and
who also told him to go forward. He neat met an elephant,

^ TV n.j.rz\|i i ir aays they were twins, but twthiflj* Id the itory Tumi on this.
which in icm^rlubtc, u twins art usually comadutd by tbe Bantu either ai ntrtfwlf
unlucky (In former lima one df [hem va freq bristly iulJcLi) Or u poflOKil ^
ilinrirciin] pqwtfl and bringing a bkdng tn the family 4 rid the viliige.

■ Mote the dlfftfrnt InitlaL U- it the |>criis for personal nainn» which hi* no!
hiijycrto boc n, coniidrmd * tt i» used only by tbc father of the twins ^ 1 he

huffiJqci, the Ecupiri 1* ami the e&cphant K in her by throe ebbaraB

' J pralie-iiinto h M wish which ihc trader need not be iroubEed, The fjiber u
deliverer 1* in important wiatian.

212

*VH|

3 £.

gWATtlLI * Stfl-HPl
PJWni rfJhV H>I*W

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

who likewise sent him on, and so at last he came upon the
monster hersdt, and announced, “ I am seeking Usiqu-
qumadevu, who is taking away my children I '* Apparently
she hoped to escape recognition, for she directed him, like
the rest, to " go forward." But the man was not to be
deceived by so transparent a device: he “ came and stabbed
the lump, and SO the hiqaqumadeiik died."

Then all the people, cattle, and dogs, and, lastly, Unto-
mbindc herself, came out unharmed, and she returned
to her father,

Her story is by no means finished, but the rest or it
belongs to an entirely different set of ideas, that which is
represented in European folklore by the tale of Hcauty
and the Beast,"

The same monster figures in the story of Usitunguso-
bcnhle," 1 but only as the final episode. Here it is a gtrl
who effects the deliverance. Nothing is said ot her subse¬
quent career, only: " Men again built houses and were again
happy; and all things returned to their former condition.

The Family swallowed by the Elephant

Another story,* which treats the theme after a somewhat
different fashion (though agreeing in one point with the
last), is that of a woman who rashly built her house m the
road," and left her children there while she went to look
for firewood. An elephant came by and swallowed the
two children, leaving a little girl who happened to he str¬
ing with them and who told the mother on her return,
what had happened. The woman (like the father in the
previous tale) set out to look for the elephant, carrying pro¬
visions (a large pot containing ground maize and amast r )
and a knife. She went on her way, asking all the animals
she met where she could find an elephant with oru. tusk,
which had eaten her children. I hey told her to go on till

milk » him. by Zutui at any me, Atank by P* 0 !* * Mt 11 “ *” cn

to children $.12

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

she came to a place where there were white stones on the
ground under some high trees. She found the elephant
in the place indicated, and asked it the same question : it
a]so told her to go on, and, when she persisted, swallowed
her. Inside it 4< she saw large forests and great rivers and
many high lands; on one side there were many rocks ' and
there were many people who had built their villages there,
and many dogs and many cattle; all were there inside the
elephant; she saw, too, her own children sitting there,"

The dephant thus comes into line with Kammapa and
the other monsters, though we are not in their case told
anything about the country inside them* This is quite
natural, as the deliverer, coming from outside, would not,
of course, see anything of the interior* Tylor says that the
description ol the country in the elephant's stomach “ is
simply that of the Zulu Hades 99 ; but I have hitherto failed
to come upon any other evidence for die country of the
dead being ao located.

The mother gave her children some and, finding

that they had eaten nothing since they had been parted
from her, said, * l Why do you not roast this flesh ? Tl They
said, 41 If we eat this beast, will it not kill us?" She
reassured them : “ No, it will itself die* 1 *

She made a great fire—how wc are not cold ; but as she
had been gathering wood she may have had some sticks
of the right kind for producing sparks by friction. She
then took her knile and cut pieces off the elephant's liver,
which she roasted and gave to the children* The other
people, who had never thought of this expedient and had
likewise eaten nothing, soon followed her example, with the
result that ,H the elephant told the other beasts, saying,
From die time I swallowed the woman I have been III \
die re has been pain in my stomach. 1 " The animals could
do nothing to help him, merely suggesting that the pain
might be caused by his having so many people inside him,
and he soon afterwards died." The woman then began to
cut her way out, and before long a cow came out, saying,
moo; at length we see the country I "followed by a

214

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

goat, a dog, and the people, who all, in their several ways,
said the same thing. 41 They made the woman presents;
some gave her cattle, some goats, and some sheep," and she
set out for home with her children, rich for life. There she
found the little girl who had been left behind and who had
given her up for dead.

There is an important difference here, in that the deliver¬
ance is effected from inside, by one of the persons swallowed.
In the story of "Little Rea Stomach" ("Siswana Sibo-
mvana" l ) the boy is swallowed by a monster called "the
owner of the water,” but not further described, and when
it died in consequence (nothing is said of his inflicting any
further injury) cut his way out, and was none the worse.

Hut in the great majority of Bantu stories the Swallower
is cut open, as by Ditto lane, and usually (though not always)
by a small boy.' The Zulu story last mentioned has points
of contact with a curious and rather repulsive incident
occurring in some of the animal tales, in which the tortoise,
or some other creature, gains entrance to the body of some
large animal and proceeds to eat it from the make. We
find this outside the Bantu area, among the Mali nice ot
French West Africa and the Tom no of Sierra Leone , 4 and
Dr Nassau recorded* from the Bantu-speaking Bcnga
of Spanish Guinea the story of the giant goat, who was done
to death through the greed of the tortoise and the leopard.

The Devouring Pumpkin .

In the story of Tsehnc * it was seen that the slain ogre
was changed into a tree. In ' The Children an t c f .^ ,re
[z/otw*] "—told in Swahili, but apparently commg from
the Yao tribe—a pumpkin-vine springs up on the spot
where he died. This in due course produces pumpkins,
and one of these, apparently offended by the remarks o
some passing children, breaks off Us stem and rolls after

i Thrali ftOm **J Dmi-Mmd fnj* V 4fric«, p. «7- Al» in Sou*
African F,lk-L*rr Jtmnul, March i»79, P- *<♦

* Cronisc and Ward, Omorir &•***, P- * J>- .

* IFAtrr Jximmlt TWt, p. Ml, ** P-

21 J

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

them. In Usambara a gourd or pumpkin appears as the
Swallowing Monster. Nothing is said as to its origin, but
a comparison with the Swahili story suggests that it may have
been the reincarnation of some ogre or wicked magician. 1

Some little boys, playing in the gardens outside their
village, noticed a very large gourd, and said, “Just see how
big that gourd is getting I ” Then the gourd spoke and
said, “ If you pluck me I’ll pluck you 1 ” They went home
and told what they had heard, and their mother refused
to believe them, saying, “ Children, you lie I ” But their
sisters asked to be shown the place where the boys had seen
the talking gourd. It was pointed out to them, and they
at once went there by themselves, and said, as their brothers
had done, “Just see how big that gourd is getting 1 ” But
nothing happened. They went home, and, of course, said
that the boys had been making fun of them. Then the
boys went again and heard the gourd speak as before. But
when the girls went it was silent. It would probably have
been contrary to custom for all to go together.

The gourd continued to grow: it became as big as a
house, and began swallowing all the people in the village.
Only one woman escaped—we are not told how. Having
swallowed every one within reach, the gourd made its way
into a lake and stayed there.

In a short time the woman bore a boy, and, apparently,
they lived on together on the site of the ruined village.
When the boy had grown older he asked his mother one
day where his father was. She said, “ He was swallowed
up by a gourd which has gone into the lake.” So he went
forth, and when he came to a lake he called out, “ Gourd,
come out 1 Gourd, come out! ” There was no answer,
and he went on to another lake and repeated his command.
He saw “ one ear of the gourd ” come out of the water (by
which it would appear that the gourd had by this time
assumed some sort of animal shape), and climbed a tree,
where he kept on shouting, “ Gourd, come out I ” At last
the gourd came out and set off in pursuit of him; but he

1 Seidel, Geschiehten und Lteder der Afrikaner, p. 174.

216

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

ran home and asked his mother for his bow and quiver.
He hastened back, ant) when he came in sight of the
monster loosed an arrow and hit it + He shot again and
again, till, wounded by the tenth arrow, it died, roaring “ so
that it could be heard from here to Vuga/* 1 The boy then
called to his mother to bring a knife, and the usual ending
follows. It may be worth while to remark that the young
chief seems to have lived out his Jife without further
trouble.

Another Talking Pumpkin

The pumpkin-monster who swallowed up a whole popu¬
lation is also found, but in a totally different setting—in
3 Kiniramba story collected by Mr Frederick Johnson. 1
Here the first part, relating how Kiali left her husband
because he had murdered her sister, and was thrown into
a hole and left for dead by a porcupine on her way to her
mother’s village, has very little to do with the episode which
mainly concerns us. The connecting-link is the porcupine,
which assumed KkU’s shape and took her place in her home,
till exposed by the recovery of the real Kiali* They threw
it on the fire, and " it died, and they buried it in the fire¬
place," Next morning a pumpkin was seen growing on
the spot, and, some one remarking on it* it repeated the
words. Everything that was said before It It repeated,
and when they brought an axe to make an end of this
uncanny growth ,4 they were swallowed, and it swallowed
all the people in the land, except a woman who was with
child and had hidden herself in some cave." The child,
when born, asked, M Where are the people? " and, on being
told, went off to forge a weapon. This boy, Mlilua, is the
hero of another story where, in somewhat different circum¬
stances, people who have been swallowed are restored to
life. In this one he set out to seek the giant (/iitia) of whom

I The oM capital of the Slmribala paraffloum chitll* diitaut atom twenty-fiv*
rniki from the mission stfllitf-TI « liirc tsne pylLhcrt ihAT lbt Itory wtli lold.

1 Tlta AlUfiiinbftm U? lw ftPtHiJ sn the centra! dutricU of Tanganyika Territory
[Kmiram&i Fdk-tdltr* p* jj*),

21 7

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

his mother had told him, and brought her ono animal after
another (beginning with a grasshopper 1), only to be told
every time that this was not the right one. In the same
way the lad In the Swahili tale of “ Sultan Majmm "
brought his mother the various animals he had killed,
hoping that each one was 11 the Nunda, eater of people," 1
At last Mlilua found the monster bathing, and shot an
arrow at it. He went on shooting, while his mother sang,
*' My son, throw the spines, Kiali, hundred spines [of the
porcupine] 1 If you do not throw to-day we shall be
finished completely 1 ” (It is not dear whether this is a
figurative expression for arrows, or whether Mlilua really
shot the spines of the porcupine at the monster. The
mention of the name Kiali refers to the fact that the pumpkin
took its origin from the porcupine which had personated
the woman "Kiali.)

At last the giant's strength was exhausted, and he said to
Mlilua, “ When yon begin cutting me begin at the back.
If you cut me in front you will kill your people/ 4 Having
said this, he died, Mlilua took the hint, and the people,
cattle, gnats, and fowls came out safely, a)] except one nld
woman, who, being in an awkward place, had her car cut.
She apparently accepted his apologies, and made some beer,
which she invited him to drink. But she bewitched
(poisoned ?) him* and MJilua died.

Threi: Variants

In the Ddagoa Bay region the f Swallowing * (or 1 En¬
gulfing ) Monster theme is represented, in a somewhat
different form, by two talcs ! ; in one a little herd-boy, swal¬
lowed by a cannibal ogre* made him so uncomfortable that
the ogre's own companions, with his consent, cut him open
and thus released—not only the boy, but all the people and
cattle previously swallowed.

In the other tale the giant Ngumbaugumba is killed by
the boy Bokcnyane, who, like Kachiramboj is produced from
an abscess on his mother’s leg, but, on fike him, is followed

1 See irr/rpr* p 4 120 . * Juduif CM m(# rt cmiftg pp + jpg apd ioa.

2i8

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

by two younger brothers. Kokenyane first hit the ogre with
an arrow, and the other two went on shooting at him till lie
died. It was the mother who cut the body open—in this
case with an axe. The conclusion is somewhat unusual.
After the people had begun rebuilding their villages they
asked who was their deliverer; the mother answered, " 11 is
Bokenyjme," They gave the three brothers five wives
apiece, and then chose tfokenyane for their chief, because it
was lie who had shot the first arrow.

The other two were not pleased with this decision, and
Bochurwane, the second, saia, “ Let me retgn I ” Bokenyane
refused absolutely, but his brothers dispossessed him by force,
and he fied into the bush, where, in the end, he went mad.

Mrs Dewar's Chinamwanga collection 1 contains two very
different versions of the same tale—onc, certainly, incom¬
plete. This one opens like “ Tselane,” but, as a brother and
sister are concerned, it also recalls " Demane and Dcma-
zana " and the almost too well known parallel in Grimm.
It begins by saying that “ Once upon a time a goblin
[iihitumbu] ate up all the people in the world. Only two
remained—Nachipondn and Changala."

But when Changala had killed the goblin with his spear
nothing further is recorded. When first wounded he said,

“ A hippo-fly has stung me "—-just as Ngumbangumba,
as each arrow hit him, remarked, 11 The mosquitoes are
biting me.”

The second story, called ** Ichitumbu,” begins and ends
like most of the others, but the mother is shut up in a hut by
her two sons (as Tselane is by her parents) while they go¬
to hunt, and foolishly opens the door to the goblin. He
suggests 1 playing 1 ; she wrestles with him, but is overcome
and carried off. The boys come up in. time, set their dogs
on the goblin, and rescue her. Next day (in spite of the sous*
warning) the same thing happens, and again on the day
after that; but this time she is killed and eaten. The sons
bring about the usual ending, and so “ became chiefs, and
the people honoured them.”

* St* Chapter VII, J>. I«J,

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Yet another version has been obtained from the Duala
people, in the far north-west, but quite sufficient have
already been given.

The Nunda

Quite a different line of thought, which may or may not
have developed out of the “ Swallowing Monster ” idea, is
that connected with “ the Nunda, eater of people.” This is
found in the story of “ Sultan Majnun,” 1 but has little if
any connexion with the first part of the story, which relates
how a bird year after year stole the dates from the sultan’s
garden, till defeated by his youngest son. This may be of
exotic origin, but the Nunda, whether under this name or
another, is not confined to Swahili-speaking Africans. The
peculiarities of this particular version seem to be: the
Nunda begins as an ordinary cat, which, being left un¬
molested when catching and eating the chickens, grows in
size and fierceness with each successive year, till it ends as
a monstrous creature larger than an elephant. Secondly,
though it has devoured everything it came across, nothing
is ever recovered. The youngest son, who kills the Nunda
in the end, does so only after bringing in a succession of
animals, each larger than the last, and ending with an
elephant. He is told by his mother, on every occasion,
“ My son, this is not he, the Nunda, eater of people.”

This “method of trial and error” is that followed by
Mlilua in the Kiniramba tale, which, however, in what
follows is true to the main type of the * Swallower ’ stories.

Jonah’s Whale, the Frog, and the Tortoise

Both Tylor and W. A. Clouston (though the latter does
not mention the African legend we have been discussing in
the pages he devotes to“ Men swallowed by Monster Fish”*)
associate the Biblical story of Jonah with the same class of
ideas. Whether or not one can suppose any original con¬
nexion, there is this important difference that Jonah was

1 Steere, Swahili Tales, pp. 199 and 247.

1 Popular Tales and Fictions, vol. i, pp. 403-411.

220

THE SWALLOWING MONSTER

returned to the upper air unharmed, and (so far as one
knows) without injury to the whale. But in all but one of the
examples he quotes as parallels the fish is cut open. In
these two cases we have a link with a curious incident which
occurs more than once in African ogre-tales : a frog, or in
some cases a tortoise, swallows some children in order to
save them from the ogre, and produces them safe and sound
at their home* A good, typical instance of this class of tale
ia that given by M. Junod 1 under the title of M L'Homme-
au-Gmnd-Coutdas/ 1 We have the usual set of incidents—
girls passing the night in the ogre's hut and saved by the
wakefulness of one among them ; the friendly frog is less
frequently met with, but Dr Doke has a similar ending to
the story of 41 The Great Water-snake and the People, 1 ' 1
A man of the Luo tribe (a non-Bantu-speakihg people com¬
monly called 1 Kavirondo ' in Kenya Colony) told me much
the same story.! in which the girls were swallowed by a
tortoise.

Those of us who have been brought up on Grimm will
easily remember +l The Wolf and the Kids/ 1 which, like
41 Red Riding-hood,” if not springing from the same root,
must have originated in a similar stratum of thought. The
differences of background and colouring arc as Interesting
aa the resemblance persisting through the long course of
development which has separated the European stream of
tradition from the African*

* CAaxit ft tmiftf p + f+4-

1 Fdbhrr, 147. See rafra, p. JWh

CHAPTER XV: LIGHTNING, THUNDER,
RAIN, AND THE RAINBOW

I T is only natural that lightning and thunder should power¬
fully affect the human imagination all the world over.
Even when their causes are more or less understood there
are few or none but must feel a peculiar thrill at sight of the
flash and sound of the answering roar. To the primitive
mind lightning is a living thing, instinct with destructive
power, thunder the voice of some angry spirit or supra-
mundane animal. Lightning is, perhaps, most often con¬
ceived of as a bird, and there seems no reason to doubt the
good faith of those who declare they have actually seen it.

Various descriptions are given of it: sometimes it be¬
comes identified with an actual bird ; thus the Amandebele
give the name of isivolovolo both to the 4 bird of heaven 1
(inyoni yezulu) and to the white-necked fish-eagle, which
flies at a great height and whose droppings possess magical
properties.

Dudley Kidd, in Bomvanaland, had a brown bird pointed
out to him as the lightning-bird. He was about to shoot it,
but was dissuaded, and therefore presumably was unable
to determine its species, as he gives no further information.
The bird known to Afrikanders as 4 hammerkop f (the
tufted umber) seems in some way to be associated with
lightning as well as rain ; to destroy its nest is to bring down
a storm.

The Lightning-bird described

One of Bishop Callaway’s informants had seen a feather
of the lightning-bird, which may very possibly have been a
peacock’s feather, as it is a fact that peacocks’ feathers were
sold in Natal about i860 by some enterprising person who
declared that they had been obtained from the 4 heaven-
bird.’ 1 According to this man, the bird 44 is cjuite peculiar,
for its feathers glisten. A man may think it is red; again
he sees that it is not so—it is green.” 2 This suggests a kind

1 Amazulu, p. 119. « Ibid., p. 383.

222

LIGHTNING, THUNDER, AND RAIN

of metallic iridescence, so that it is not surprising if peacocks'
feathers were accepted as being the genuine article. Another
account says that it has a red bill, red legs, and a short red
tail, like fire; “ its feathers are bright and dazzling, and it
is very fat/*

The Xosas call this bird imptmJulu —a name nowadays
adopted for an electric tram-car I It is said to “ appear .15
such that is to say, in its proper form as a bird—only to
women, but Dr Hcwat 1 does not mention what women, if
any, have ever seen it. When it darts down as lightning
people only see the flash.

Tr lays a big egg where it strikes, which eggs bring ill-luck 10
the neighbourhood where laid. The only way to circumvent the
bird is to stand ready with a kerrie and hit right through the
flash. ... No one lias, ever succeeded in killing one yet.

He goes on to say that the doctor 1 is supposed to dig up
the egg in order to destroy it; but it is somewhat incon¬
sistent with this to be told in the next sentence that " the
possession of the egg would bring great good fortune."

The Lightning-bird's Nest found in Mashonaland

The destruction of the egg seems elsewhere to be con¬
sidered essential, as would appear from a very interesting
account by a magistrate in Mashunaland, writing under the
name 1 Mblzo/ 3 He says that, the lightning having struck
a tree near the native messengers' camp at his station, a
woman doctor was called in. After examining the place she
ran to ami fro, round and round, and at last fixed on a spot,
which she marked by sticking a horn into the earth, and
said that the eggs would be found there. (It seems that
none but natives were present at this ceremony.) " Digging
operations followed ”; but it is not said who dug, which
is not without importance. The three Government mes¬
sengers who were looking on reported that not tar from the
surface a small round hole was found, very smooth, as it
plastered; digging down from this, at a depth of some two
1 Bantu Fottkrt. p. 91. * Im*d 1 id Nual he » h^mgajt vxIk.

1 ,AWj {1914)1 p-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

feet they found a nest with two eggs—quite ordinary¬
looking eggs apparently. The magistrate, on examining the
spot, could find no trace of the smooth hole, nor any reason
to doubt that the woman had placed the nest in the excava¬
tion herself, probably diverting the spectators’ attention, as
conjurors know how, at the critical moment. When he
dropped the eggs on the ground and broke them (they were
unmistakably addled) all the people present fled in real
terror; but some one must have returned later—perhaps
the doctor herself—for “ all particles of the eggs were care¬
fully gathered, doctored, and thrown into a deep pool in the
Sebakwe River.”

This was done to prevent the lightning striking again in
the same spot, which, as a matter of fact, it never did, in
this instance, up to the time of writing, though fifteen years
had passed since the incident took place. If these precautions
are omitted it is believed that the bird will come back to
pick up its eggs, “ with probably fatal results.”

Mr Guy Taylor, the editor of Nada, has in his possession
a curious earthenware object, turned up by the plough near
the Chikuni Mission, 1 which the natives declare is “an egg
laid by lightning.” None of the local natives (Batonga and
Baila) had ever seen anything like it.

Heaven-doctors

The Natal * heaven-doctors ’ are more concerned with the
bird itself than with its eggs. They set a bowl of amasi
mixed with various medicines in the place where they wish
the lightning to strike, and when they see the flash rush
forward and kill the bird. It seems to have been believed
that this had repeatedly happened. The bird was boiled
down for the sake of its fat, which was a very precious
medicine, used, among other purposes, for anointing the
sticks held by the * heaven-herds ’ in the ceremony of con¬
juring the lightning, to be described presently. The
Bomvanas, it would seem, do not recognize the possibility
of this procedure, if Dudley Kidd was correct in stating it

1 In Northern Rhodesia.

224

LIGHTNING, THUNDER, AND RAIN

as their belief that the bird sets its own fat on fire and
throws it down.”

ChiimmgU of the Baronga

The Baronga identify the lightning-bird with a hawk
called chimungU, which is believed to bury itself in the ground
where it strikes. These people credit the ' medicine' pre¬
pared from it with the peculiar virtue of enabling its possessor
to detect thieves. One has not heard of this use of it among
the Zulus, with their well-known character for honesty.
When lightning has struck any spot of ground and burnt
up the grass on it the Ronga chief '* casts the bones,” and
then sends for the professional expert. This man arrives,
with a long black stick in his hand, digs at the spot indicated,
and finds the bird, alive or dead ; one Supposes that in the
former case he kills it, but this is not specified. He then
carefully measures the depth of the hole, making a notch on
hk stick for future reference, takes the bird home, roasts it,
and grinds it to powder. What is done when a case of theft
is reported may be read in M. Junod’s book. 1

The Girl who saw the Lightning-bird

A Tumbuka native told the Rev. Donald Fraser that he
had never seen the lightning-bird, " but a girl of our village
saw it not long ago," It was a large black bird, with “ a
big, curling tail, like a cock's.” It seems to have splashed
into a pool of water near where she was hoeing in her garden,
and then to have “ run up her hoe and scratched her, after
which it flew back into the clouds. As the narrator had seen
" the marks of its claws on her body ” it Is probable that the
girl had really been struck by lightning, which has been
known to leave curious scars, further, it is believed that
“ those little scarlet insects you see on the path during the
rains are the children of the lightning,” *

The lakeside people of Huttiba (on the eastern shore of
Lake Victoria) think lightning and thunder are caused by

1 Tki Lift <tfi i South African Tribe, tuI. il, pp. +03-494,

• Win*i«s * Primitive ProfJt, p. 6$.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

flocks of small, glittering red birds, which nest in the rocks
near the lake. When Kayura, ruler of the storm (he is the
son of the one-legged lake-god Mugasha), is so disposed he
sends these birds out: the flashing of their feathers is the
lightning and the rushing sound of their wings the thunder.
During a thunderstorm Mugasha’s missing leg is said to be
seen in the clouds—a phenomenon of which, so far as I am
aware, no explanation has been offered.

Other Embodiments of Lightning

But birds are not the only creatures held responsible for,
or supposed to be connected with, the lightning. The
Lambas 1 say that with the flash an animal like a goat, but
with the hind legs and tail of a crocodile, descends to earth,
let down by a cord like a “strong cobweb.” Ordinarily it
is drawn up again, but should the * cobweb ’ break the
animal would be heard crying like a goat, “ and the people
run together to kill and burn it.” They cannot do this
without being protected by special * medicine,’ as it is highly
dangerous to approach the creature.

No one will use for firewood a tree which has been struck
by lightning, while the Zulus (and other cattle-breeding
peoples) will never eat the flesh of an animal so killed, unless
it has been ‘doctored’ and they themselves have been
washed with the proper ‘ medicines.’ It is a world-wide
notion, quite easy to understand, that any person or thing
marked for destruction by this mysterious power must be
tabu. So the Romans used to sacrifice a sheep on the spot
where anyone had been struck by lightning, and made it a
sacred place for ever. The Bushongo people of the Kasai
suppose lightning to be an animal something like a leopard,
but black. It is called “ Tsetse Bumba,” and is the subject
of a curious legend. 3 Bumba, the creator, after producing
nine creatures, of which Tsetse was one, and, subsequently,
the human race, imposed on them various tabus , which are
observed to this day. But Tsetse refused to obey these

1 Dolce, The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, p. 225.

1 Torday and Joyce, Les Bushongo, p. 20,

226

lightning, thunder, and rain

rules, and began working mischief; so Dumba drove hei 1
from the earth, and she took refuge in the sky, where she
has dwelt ever since. But when people began to suffer
because they could not get fire Bumba. allowed her to return
now and then, and, though every one of these occasions was
marked by disaster, men were able to light their files from
trees which had been struck, and thenceforth carefully kept
them burning in their huts.

The Lightning-dog of the Congo

The people of the Lower Congo call lightning Naazi (or
Nsasi); with them it takes the form of a kind of magic dog,
either red or black, with shaggy hair and a curly tail. When
he comes down lie gives one sharp bark— nil —’and with the
second bark he goes up again. No charm can avail against
him, and neither wizard nor witch-doctor has power to avert
his attacks. The Zulus, however, know better, as we shall see.
R. E. Dennett was told this story by a Luangu man :

A roan met a beautiful dog. and was so pleased with its appr.tr-
aitce that he determined to take it home with him. As it was
raining heavily he took it with him inside Iris shimhet (hut) and,
lighting a fire, proceeded to dry and warm his pet. Suddenly
rhefi- was an explosion r and neither man, dag, nor shtmhtc were
cwr seen again. This dog was Nsssi, so Antonio told me . 1

This same man, Antonio Lavadciro (the Lower Congo
people very often have Portuguese names), had a strange
experience on his own account, which seems to imply that
Nzazi is not himself a. dog, but hunts with twelve couple
of hounds. Here Nzazi is the thunder, and his dogs the
lightning. Antonio was playing at marbles under a shed
with some friends during a heavy shower of rain, when " it
thundered frightfully, and Nzazi sent his twenty-four dogs
down upon them. They seized one of the party who had
teft the shed for a moment, and the fire burnt up a living
palm-tree," 31

1 Tcrrbjy writing m Ftem-h, made J let* feminine, but thii may only have
hecn bcoux: fli the gejufcr of In fouJrt,

* Thi 1Hoc* Mmti MmJ, p. i j»- * NMn* F- 7-

s&7

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

But Antonio also told of a man, still living when he spoke,
who had been caught up to heaven by a flash of lightning
and had a verv good time there for two or three weeks. He
was then asked by Nzambi (God) himself whether he would
rather stay for ever or return to earth. He said he wanted
to return, as he missed his friends and relations. So he was
sent back to them.

Dudley Kidd mentions, somewhat vaguely, a tat baby
sa id by the people of IVI3.shonal3.nd. to cause the thunder
when it crawls on the ground after descending from the sky
at the spot where the lightning struck the earth. No further
details are given about this infant, which seems to have
been reported at second or third hand, or even less directly.
We have already seen that some, at least, of the Mashona
believe in the lightning-bird.

The Balungwana

But one wonders whether there may be some obscure
connexion with the balungwana of the Baronga. These are
tiny beings, sometimes called ‘ dwarfs * (j>simhunwanyana) y
but more often by the name which seems to mean ‘ little Euro¬
peans.* 2 They are said to come down from the sky when
heavy rain is falling; if there is thunder without rain people
say, “ The balungwana are playing up there.” Nothing
is said about lightning in connexion with them, and they
sometimes appear before a great disaster, such as the locust
visitation of 1894, when “ a little man and a little woman ”
fell from the sky and said to the people, “ Do not kill the
locusts; they belong to us ! ” In 1862, just before the war
between two rival Gaza chiefs, a mulungwana alighted on a
hill at Lourenfo Marques, and was seen by many people.
M.Junod’s informant had not himself seen him: he was
“ too little ” at the time, and his parents would not let him
go and look. He added, surprisingly, that “ the white men

1 The Essential Kafir, p. X2i.

* Junod, Life of a South African Tribe , vol. ii, p. 405. Possibly the name is
not, as one thinks at first, a diminutive of the Ronga word for * white men (perhaps
borrowed from Zulu), but of a plural of Mulungu , as used by many East African
tribes, though not by the Baronga. In that case it would mean * little gods.

228

LIGHTNING, THUNDER AND RAIN

seized him and took him to Mozambique," It docs not
appear that any inquiries were made of the Portuguese
authorities concerning this extraordinary capture.

Heaven-herds, or Heaven-doctors

Thunderstorms being exceedingly frequent and violent
in tropical and subtropical Africa, more particularly, per¬
haps, in the south, where the abundance of ironstone In the
hills may add to the danger from lightning, the art*—or
science—of averting them, or, at any rate, of preventing
damage, has been developed in great detail. The Zulus
have their 1 heaven-herds 1 (Who shepherd the thunder¬
clouds), or ' heaven-doctors. They instinctively feel a
storm coming on, a faculty acquired by what is called * eating
the heaven h —that is, eating the flesh of a beast killed by
lightning—they also make cuts in their bodies and rub in
a ‘ medicine 1 compounded from this flesh, with, in addition,
that of the lightning-bird, scrapings from the * thunderbolt/
and, perhaps certain herbs. The * thunderbolt * may be a
meteorite; it is said to he M a thing like the shank of an
assagai/ 1 which buries itself in the ground where the light¬
ning strikes, the spot being marked by 14 a heap of jelly-like
substance," The " doctor/ who has been watching the flash,
at once digs here and finds the object.

These experts arc supposed to turn back hail and light¬
ning, but not rain, which, m a land of frequent and disastrous
droughts, is a blessing anxiously awaited* They have to
undergo a special initiation and observe certain which

do not 3 to our thinking, seem to have much point: for in¬
stance, they must never drink from a cup of beer unless it Is
quite full, or eat izindum&a beans unless given to them. But
if these and other prohibitions are infringed the ‘ doctor *
loses his power, and if he is unsuccessful in averting a storm
it is at once attributed to his not having Tasted —a term
which includes other matters besides abstinence from food.
When a storm is coming on the ixyaxga yestklu seizes his
sticks, which have been rubbed with the proper * medicines/
and takes up his station outride the house—sometimes on

229

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

the wall of the cattle-fold, if this is of stone. He brandishes
his sticks, and shouts, ‘ scolding the heaven/ ordering the
storm to depart, and whistling to it as herd-boys do to their
cattle. While this goes on no one in the house is supposed
to speak; and if it is hailing people do no work, for this, it
is believed, would attract the lightning.

Birds which bring Rain

Rain, of course, is a pressing preoccupation for many
natives of Africa, and the professional rain-doctor is an
important person. He will be more fitly treated in the next
chapter; but there are also rain-rites in which all the people
take part, and rain-charms which may be used by individuals.
Thus the ground hornbill (insingizi *) is a bird intimately
associated with rain. When there has been no rain for some
time they catch an insingizi , kill it, and throw it into a pool,
when, “ if it rains ”—for it seems as if this result were by
no means certain—“ it is said it rains for the sake of the
insingizi which has been killed: the heaven becomes soft;
it wails for it by raining, wailing a funeral wail.” 2 If a
number of these birds are seen gathered together in one
place, uttering their cries, it is supposed that they are calling
for rain, and that it will soon follow.

The Bateleur eagle ( ingqungqulu ) is looked to for omens
of various kinds; among others it announces the coming of
rain. But it is not, like the other bird, used as a rain-charm.

Shouting for Rain

The feast of first-fruits ( ukutshwama ) was formerly, per¬
haps is still, held in or about the month of January, when
the new crops begin to be fit for use. But it sometimes
happens that the rains have been late in coming, and con¬
sequently there is no * new food 9 to be eaten. On such
occasions the assembled people intone * magical songs/

1 The dictionaries give both ‘ground hornbill * and ‘ turkey-buzzard ‘ as
equivalents for insingizi. There is no clue as to which is meant here, but I imagine
the former.

1 Callaway, Amazulu , p. 407.

230

LIGHTNING, THUNDER, AND RAIN

which are believed to produce the desired effect. These
same songs may also be used with the opposite intention—
viz., to stop excessive and long-continued rain when an
army is on the march.

I have heard people ‘ shouting for rain 1 on the slopes of
Mount Bangwe, in the Shire Highlands, with weird, wailing
cries—perhaps calling on the spirit of the old chief Kan-
komba, who used to be invoked for the same purpose in
Duff Macdonald’s day. 1 But this is straying too far from
our proper subject, and it is time to consider the myths of
the rainbow.

The Rainbow

Africans have been struck not so much by the beauty of
the rainbow as by its strangeness, and they nearly always
look on it as malignant and dangerous. This may seem
unaccountable to us, accustomed to think of it as the symbol
of hope, and familiar with the lovely figure of Iris, the mes¬
senger of the gods. But it is a common belief that it stops
the rain, and this is quite enough to constitute it an enemy.
Its colours are sometimes said to be the glow of a destroying
fire: 44 If it settles on the trees,” said a Luyi man to Emile
Jacottet, “it will burn all the leaves.” It is curiously asso¬
ciated with ant-heaps, in which it is supposed to live.
Anyone who sees it—that is, sees the place where its end
seems to rest on the earth—runs away as fast as he can:

44 if he sees you he will kill you.” It is described—one
cannot see why—as an animal as big as a jackal, with a
bushy tail. Others say it is like a many-coloured snake, 2

1 Africcma , vol. i, p. 70.

1 Virgil, in the fifth book of the JEntid (84-93), tells how, when iEneas had
made offerings at his father’s tomb, a snake came out from “ the foot of the shrine ”
and glided round it seven times. Its scales were blue and gold, and glittered in
many colours like the rainbow. It tasted the food and drink there set out, and
then crept back into the earth whence it came. jEncas did not know whether to
think it “ the genius of the place " or an attendant on his father: an African
would never have doubted that it was Anchises himself. The reference to the
rainbow is curious, but must not be pressed as indicating that in ancient Italy it
was thought of as a snake 5 while in Africa the rainbow snake has no connexion
with the ancestral ghost.

23I

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OP THE BANTU

which is more intelligible. Some Zulus suv that if is a
sheep, or lives with a sheep. The common Zulu expres¬
sion for it, however (the only one I remember to have heard),
is Utinga Iwcnkesikazu 'the Queen's arch'—that is, one of
the arched wattles forming the hut of that mysterious being
the Queen of Heaven, concerning whom it is difficult to
obtain exact information.

The Kikuyu 1 say it Is a ‘wicked animal,’ which lives in
the water, comes out at night, eats goats and cattle, and lias
even been known to eat people. There was one which lived
in Lake Naivasha and swallowed the cattle of the Masai, hut
was at last killed by the young warriors. This, it seems, was
related as an actual occurrence.

It is worth noting that the Kikuyu say, “ the rainbow in
the water [in the spray from a waterfall] and the sky is not
the animal itself, but its picture," because in a very distant
region of West Africa the Ewe (in Togo) say the same thing:
the rainbow is the reflection of the snake in the clouds.
These people also think that it hides in an ant-hill, whence it
rises up after rain.

One of the Kikuyu stories of the rainbow (*' The Giant of
the Great Water M ) could really he classed with those about
the Swallowing Monster, recounted in a previous chapter.

I he Baganda are perhaps exceptional in their way of
regarding the rainbow, whom they tail Mu soke; he is the
patron of fishermen. It is wrong, by the by, to point at the
rainbow, so they say: anyone who docs so will find Iris
finger become stiff. The Bail a, 5 on the contrary, point at
the rainbow to drive it away, not with the finger, but with
the pestle used for pounding grain. They call it the bow of
I-cza (God), but none the less credit it with preventing the
fall of rain.

Where the Rainbow ends

“ They have a curious idea that just below where the bow
touches earth there is a very fierce goat-ram, which burns

1 w, S. ami K- Itouilc4j$c p ti'ilA a FrtAhterit Ptafk t pp. 507-j 14,

* Srniih wd DaJc, TJlt P/^Ir Jt veL ii, 2 id.

LIGHTNING, THUNDER, AND RAIN

like fire." But here and there one comes upon traces of
the notion—familiar to us in Europe—that some treasure
would be found at the point where the rainbow touches the
ground, if one could only reach it. 'Hie Ewe (who, however,
need not concern us here) think this is where the valuable
* Aggrey beads' are to be found. A Chagft story told by
Dr Gutman n 1 relates how a needy Dorobo set out from his
home to ask Iruwa for cattle. When he came to the rain¬
bow’s end ” he stood still and uttered his prayer. And this
he did for many days. But no cattle appeared. Then he was
seized with rage (the story-teller says, u his heart rose up ");
he drew his sword and cut the rainbow in two. Half of it
flew up to the sky; the other half fell to the ground and
sank in, making a deep hole, Nothing more is said about
the Dorobo; one would not be surprised to learn that he
perished miserably as a punishment for his presumption.
Later on some people came upon the hole and, climbing
down, found '* another country.” They came back and
reported what they had seen: those to whom they told it
would not believe them. So they went down again, and
returned "with vessels full of milk, which convinced the
sceptics. But some lions had followed them down, and the
nest time any people descended they found no one there,
the inhabitants having emigrated. (If is not actually stated
that the first explorers found any people in the underground
region, but it must be understood that they are implied in
the mention of milk.) They heard the growling of die lions,
and made the best of their way back, ab they had come.
Since then no one has ventured down the pit. Frankly, I
do not know what to make of this.

Rainbow Snakes „

The people of Luangu hold, if Dennett was correctly in¬
formed, that there are two rainbows, a good and an evil one.
Hut the rainbow snakes, which seem to be distinct from these
two, arc six, and not one. They correspond to the colours
of the rainbow, which are counted as six, not seven- perhaps

1 i't/tifmrA, p. 15J.

233

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

no distinction is drawn between indigo and blue. (But this
writer’s statements about numbers must be received with
caution, because one never knows how much he read into
what he was told by the people themselves.)

In Mayombe, to the east of Luangu, the rainbow is called
Mbumba Luangu. It is, says Pire Bittrcmieux , 1 an enor¬
mous ai/ft-snake, which coma out of water and wriggles
up the nearest high tree when it wants to stop the rain.
It is worshipped (if that is the correct word to use in this
connexion) by the secret society of the Hakimba. There is
a saying that you should not stand still in the place where
the rainbow appears to shoot up from the earth, nor stare at
the mist whence it rises. If you do so your eyes will become
dim and misty.

So much for the rainbow.

1 Jt/iWiftni) fdi it p. 3^1

CHAPTER XVI: DOCTORS, PROPHETS,

AND WITCHES

T HE term * witch-doctor’ is often loosely used, as if it
were synonymous with ‘witch ’ or sorcerer. Lhisia
something like putting the policeman and the detective
in the same category as the criminal. There way be witch¬
doctors who arc scoundrels, as there may be unjust magis¬
trates or corrupt policemen ; but, cm the whole, the witch¬
doctor is a force on the side of law and justice, anti one d»c?3
not see how, where a belief in witchcraft is firmly rooted in
the minds of the people, he could well be dispensed with.
His office is to detect and prevent crime and bring offenders
to justice, and his methods are on the whole less barbarous
than those of Matthew Hopkins, the witch-finder.

No African would ever confuse these two personages:
die ‘doctor 1 is iay&ttga (rnganga, tiag'tiftga'), the witch
wchawiy or mjiri, or umtagati.

But the Zulu word tttyaHga % like our 1 doctor, covers a
variety of meanings; properly it denotes a person skilled
in any art or knowledge: a blacksmith, tor instance, is
inyanga ye/tiimbi, 11 a doctor of iron. 1 ' So the ittyattga may
be either a diviner or a herbalist, or both at the same time;
possibly, also, a seer or prophet.

The Doctor’s Training t ,

The diviner and the herbatist learn their business in the
ordinary way, being trained by a professional, to whom they
act as assistants till duly quali fied- 1 he rules of the diviner s
art have been carefully studied by M. Junod, and fully
described in his book The Life of a South African TrioeT
The seer is usually a man of a peculiar, nervous tempera¬
ment, either known as such from childhood or seeming to

I Vcl. ii, fin. 49J-SI*- SmSth uid Dale {The Ib-iftti Jflff Ptepltt, H
n* i6t-:7s] [ii'iniNite nine mctissll of diviMI»B, all different from that of lhe
%inra.i»W umd by the Barony ZuiLH, and when. Aaintadthi* jwoc>»
the iuxckkw o( -■ dfrioer, apparently niadc jfl F»d tS “ *P l "Vf

h[s father and mother ucre contained id hi* mcdteiDC fourd+ ttnd it wjj thtijr
giw the aniupcn u? ih^ quaiioni pui.

% 3 $

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

develop special powers after a dangerous illness. He has to
undergo a severe initiation, spending :i great deal of time
alone in the wilds. Some say that this condition is brought
about through possession by a spirit. 1 he Lambas 1 think
there are certain goblins (jjinkxtnaU*, already mentioned in
Chapter XIII) with only half a body who wander about,
invisible, in troops, hopping along on their one leg. .Some¬
times the fancy takes one ot them to possess a human being,
and then he or she (for they are of both sexes and all ages)
hits some passer-by in the face. It is not clear whether the
man feels anything at the time, but after reaching his home
he is taken ill, and begins to see visions—perhaps a pro¬
cession of " beings in endless march across the heavens,
going westward, arrayed in feather headdresses and carrying
their sleeping-mats.” * Ho has then to be treated by some
person already initiated, and is thenceforward known as a
jHiid&n. He can always see this one-legged goblins, which
are invisible to other people; he becomes peculiarly skilled
in dancing, and acquires the power of composing special
songs and singing them. These people are called in to sing
and dance at funerals and other ceremonies, and, being paid
for their services, make quite a good thing of it.

Prophets

The prophet is able to ace what is happening at a
distance, to predict the future, and to receive and deliver
messages from spiritual beings, whether the ghosts of
ancestors or others. The immense influence wielded by
such men has been proved over and over again by such
incidents as the “ cattle-killing ’’ of iSj 6, w'hen Umhkkaza,
passing on the messages received in trance by his niece
(some aay his daughter) Nongqauze, prophesied that when
the people had slaughtered all their cattle and emptied their
grain-bins, so as to leave themselves no store Of food, the
old dead chiefs would come back, bringing with them huge
herds of splendid beasts, and the white men would leave the
country, never to return. The sun would rise blood-red, and

1 Dijfcc t The JUmhm vf ff irijlfm p. z j c, * P - J !■

236

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

the pits would be miraculously filled to overflowing with
food. All this was firmly believed by mam- people, and the
rfrS'Ul n n tra gedy is o niy too wcl 1 known * A bo u 1twen t v-live
thousand lives are thought to have been lost in the famine.

Um hi a kata had an official standing as a doctor, and is
said to have himself seen visions confirming what his niece
had told him. The girl used to sit by a pool, where she saw
faces of people and other images in the water—in tact,
practised what is known as crystal-gazing, though she seems
to have been subject to trances as well.

Trainees

The tnnee is a familiar phenomenon among the Bantu
tribes. Doctors induce it in themselves, or others, by means
known to themselves, probably chewing certain herbs or
inhaling the smoke of them when burned. The practitioners
of the \Vakuluwc 1 prepare a drink known as Ltikmsi t which
gives the drinker " invulnerability, superhuman strength,
and the power to know and see things withheld from ordi¬
nary people." .,

But trances also occur spontaneously. 1 he Rev. Donald
Fraser* heard of a man who had himsell seen the abode or
the spirits.

He was supposed to have died, and his body was tied up in a
mat smd prepared for burial, bur . . . signs of returning life w<re
seen. On his recovery he told how he had gone by a furrow load
until he tame to a great village where fbe people lived without
marriage. He had spoken to them, but none would hold Con¬
versation with him. They told him ro be gone, for he vraa not
warned there. He tried ro tell his story, hut no one would li«en
to him. They beat irons together and tried to drown his words,
for he was cod uncanny 1 *

This is much thesiimi: as the tale of Mpobeand others like
i tj where people had similar experiences during their waking
hours. But these arc usually related as legends, not as
having happened to people known to the narrators. Inert.

I Melhrtd md Chohnrfcy, TA *wjjJ ifa Hrtirt tf A/rt vw P p =*■

* iFmwvgn Priwiih* Pnfbf p- is*.

237

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

is a novel touch here in the behaviour of the dead people.
Asa rule they are more civil, and, instead of silencing their
visitor, content themselves with telling him not to talk about
them on his return to the upper world.

Probably what happened to the man whose story was told
by Antonio Lavadeiro 1 might also be described as a trance.
He was either struck by lightning or stunned by a clap of
thunder, and remained unconscious for two or three weeks,
during which, according to his own account, he was caught
up to the sky and very hospitably entertained by N/.amhi
Mpungu.

' Possession ’

This trance state nay he caused, according to .African
ideas, either by the person's spirit leaving his body and
travelling off into unknown regions or by * possession. 1 A
Lrtmba man or woman may be possessed, as wo have seen,
by an ithittkitwatfa goblin, but also by the ghosts of deceased
human beings. There is quite an influential order of
people in this tribe who are possessed by spirits of Lenje
chiefs, never by chiefs of their own tribe. The first sign
of possession is a serious illness, for which no remedy seems
to avail, and which brings on a state in which he ** begins
to speak in a weird way, using the most extravagant lan¬
guage, telling of wonderful things he says he has seen." 2
It is the possessing spirits who enable such persons to
prophesy. Sometimes their prophecies are said to have
been fulfilled, as, for instance, that of those who told the
people, long, long ago, '* You will all drink out uf one well,"
meaning that tribal differences would be disregarded,
which was held to have come true when white men came
into the country and put a stop to inter-tribal warfare.

Possibly some of these people are clairvoyants; others
may have built up a reputation by means of some lucky
guesses; but many, in Lambaknd, at any rate, would
appear to be unscrupulous impostors, who travel from plate

1 SfT atilt, £f„ 3 3l,

1 TAf Lambai e/ N&rrAtrn fiixfoLi, pp. jjS -aG;,

238

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

to place snJ charge substintii) fcfii for their services
They deliver oracles from deceased chiefs, whose mediums
they are ; they profess to bring rain in time of drought and
to keep the birds from the crops; they practise incantations
warranted to ensure luck in hunting and administer medicine
to childless couple*. Dr Doke knew a lazy ne'er-do-well
who made quite a comfortable living in this way.

These •Sumsikamv.'iimi are readily distinguished by their
appearance; they never cut their hair, but wear it plaited
in lung mils, smeared with oil and red ochre and (in former
times," at any rate) adorned with the white shell-disks
which are the insignia of chieftainship. The 'ecstatic'
seer of the Zulus seems always to have a more or less
unkempt appearance—which is only in character—but I do
not know that he adopts any distinctive fashion. The get-
up of the witch-doctor pro per is a different matter; of course,
it varies locally, but an essentia! part of it is usually the tail
of a zebra fitted into a handle and waved about in perform¬
ing exorcisms or other operations. Bishop Peel of Mom-
basa used to carry n fly-whisk of this kind when on tour,
and it was a favourite joke with his carriers to declare that
he was a mgattgd.

The Umba doctors proper, a&alayt) are herbalists and
diviners, and provide charms of all sorts, for protecting the
crops and for other purposes* Charms of this kind arc also
supplied by the &nmutjk<tmvt6tiu t a fact which illustrates the
overlapping of functions already referred to.

Predictions fulfilled

More than one prophet is said to have foretold the coming
of the Europeans—among others one Mulenga in Ilala
(Northern Rhodesia), He said, “ There will arrive people
while and shining, their bodies like those of locust*I
Whether this description was recognized as fitting the first
white explorers when they made their appearance docs not
seem to have been recorded. Ilala is the scene of Living¬
stone’s last journey and death, but the prediction was prob¬
ably made after hi$ time, Mulenga also foretold the cattle

myths and legends of the bantu

plague of the early nineties and the locust invasion of

1 R podile, a chief of the Bapedi “ in old times ” (but unfor¬
tunately there is no clue to his date: old times might
mean in the time of the speaker's grandfather), prophesied
the coming of the Boers by saying that 44 red ants will come
and destroy Lhe land "; and another wise man, about the
same time, said, " 1 see red ants coming. They have
baskets on their heads [hats]. Their feet are those ot
zebras [the impression produced by boots]. Their sticks
give out fire [guns]. T hey travel with houses; the oxen
walk in front. ' Receive them kindly.” This was supposed
to be fulfilled when Trichard’s party arrived in i 837. 1 11

the prediction was really made at the time stated it may he
a genuine case of what Is known in the Scottish Highlands
as 4 second sight/

Chaminuka

A famous seer in Mashotialmd was Chaminuka, of
Chit Ling wiza, in the Hartley district. He is called a
’wizard * by Mr Posselt , 4 but he seems really to have been
a man of high character and unusual, perhaps abnormal,
gifts. Lobcngula used frequently to consult him, and tor
many years treated him with great consideration.^ Ife had
remarkable power over animals, not necessarily of an occult
nature: he kept tame pythons and other snakes; antelopes
gambolled fearlessly about his hut, and his celebrated bull,
Minduzapasi, would lie down and rise up, march and halt,
at the word of command. He was believed to be the
medium of the spirit called Chaminuka; his real name was
Tsuro. He was credited with the power to bring rain and
to control the movements of game; Frederick Courteney
Selous, when hunting in that part of the country, was told
by his followers that they would never succeed in killing
an elephant unless they first asked Chaminuka's permission.
When this was done he gave the messenger a reed which
was supposed “ to bring the elephants back Oil their tracks
1 Hoffmann, Afrikmiitktr GrutViUtr, p. *$j, * WatU p. *■$-

24O

I'MVIKC mi K%FiK Pi WO

P**- 1 A . M. Uv|||h^ x-m « h > ftimt * t*e \t u .r. fc r w MJ j , Tm t K \

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

by first pointing the way they had gone and then drawing
it towards him." 1

In rSS3 a man who believed Chaminuka to have been
responsible for the death of his wife went to Lobengula
with a false accusation of witchcraft against him. The
king may or may not have believed this’ but in any case
he resolved on Chaminuka’s destruction. He sent him a
message. Inviting him to Bulawayo on a friendly visit, but
the old man was not deceived. He said, “ I go to the
Madzwiti [the AmandebdeJ, but I shall not return ; but,
mark you, some eight years hence, behold ! the stranger will
enter, and he will build himself white houses,"

The prophecy was fulfilled before the eight years were
out, for the Chartered Company’s pioneer expedition
entered Mas hon aland in 1890.

He set out, accompanied by his wife and two of his sons,
and met Labenguffs war-party near the Shangani river.
Most of the warriors kept out or sight; only a few headmen
came to meet him. His wife, Bavea, who had been a
captive of the Amandebele (she was sent to Chaminuka by
I jjbengula), said, “ They are goin^ to kill you ! I know
the Amandebde; I sec blood in their eyes I Run!
Run ! " He refused, saying he was too old to run. “ If
his day has come Chaminuka dues not fear to die; but bid
my son, who is young and swift oi foot, creep away in the
bushes while there is yet time and carry the news to my
people."

The little party' were soon surrounded and all killed,
except Chaminuka himself, Bavea, and his other son, Kwari,
who was wounded in the leg, but got away. The old chief
sat on a rock, calmly playing on his mi/ira* His assailants
tried to stab him with their spears, but could not even
wound him. Some of them had rifles and fired at him, but
the bullets fdl round him like hailstones, without touching

1 A Hun'fri Wand/ringt, p, jji.

a A si irlrmcntary kind of pijnu, with 1 wl uf 1tf>od*n fir iron ke fi fiseed ovrr
gOlifd muling fifi j sunidfCttbr krap p which tbt pUyer * jrriiti su-, pended round
hia ord by a 9li3p t

myths and legends of the bantu

him. At last he told them that he could be killed only by
an innocent young boy, and such a one, being fetched,
dispatched him unresisting. The impi , haying cut up his
body in order to get the liver and heart, which were held to
be powerful ‘medicines,’ went on to Chitungwiza, in order
to exterminate Chaminuka’s whole clan, as Lobengula had
commanded. But Bute, the son who had been sent away,
was fleet of foot, and reached the village in time, and when
the warriors arrived they found only empty huts and such
stores and cattle as the people had been unable to take with
them. Bavea was taken back to Bulawayo, but escaped,
and in 1887 told the story to Selous, 1 who saw her in
Lomagundi’s country (North Mashonaland).

The Rev. Arthur Shearly Cripps, who had abundant
opportunities of hearing the stories about Chaminuka on the
spot, has woven them into what might be called a beautiful
prose poem, 2 treating his material very freely, but never, one
feels, departing from the spirit underlying the cruder native
tradition. This, of course, has not been drawn upon here.

Mohlomi of the Basuto

I cannot pass on without a reference to another seer,
Mohlomi, whom the Rev. E. W. Smith has called the
greatest figure in Basuto history.” He died in 1815, long
enough ago for legends to have gathered about his name,
as, in fact, they have done, but not sufficiently so to have
obscured the real facts to any great extent. Though in the
royal line and called to be chief through the incapacity of
his elder brother, he cared nothing for power, and much
preferred to travel about in quest of knowledge, more
particularly knowledge of medicinal herbs. He was re¬
nowned both as a physician and a rain-maker. There is no
reason to suppose him an impostor in the latter capacity,
he evidently believed in his powers, and his belief must

1 Travel and Adventure in South-east Africa, p. 113. The account in the text
is taken partly from this book and partly from Mr Posselt s article. Selous < oes
not mention Kwari or the only way in which Chaminuka (whom he calls Chameluga)
could be killed.

1 Chaminuka .

242

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

have been confirmed by the cases in which, if tradition is
to be believed, he was {possibly owing to some fortunate
coincidence) successful. His prophetic career began at an
early age, when, in the course of his puberty initiation-
Loremomes, 1 he felt himself, in a dream or trance, carried
up to the sky, and heard a voice saying, Go, rule by love
and look on thy people as men and brothers. He had a
strong influence over Moshesh, who, like Other chiefs, fre¬
quently came to him for advice and, unlike them, often
followed it. The mythical clement in his story comes out
in the assertion that he was 14 able to transport himself from
one place to another in a super natural way.” In his last
illness he prophesied a famine and a cattle plague; and
when dying, on coming out of a kind of trance, he said,
" After my death a cloud of red dust will come out of the
east and consume our tribes, l he lather will eat his
children.” This has been taken to refer to the scries of
wars and migrations which began shortly afterwards and
continued till the middle of the nineteenth century.

Only One Way of Death

It will have been noticed that, as in the cases of Liongo,
Chikumbu and Chibisa, there was only one way in which
Chaminuka could be killed. The usual account given of
this is that the person in question had charms against every
possible weapon, or other cause of death, but one, which,
of course, had to be kept secret.

At Kolelo, in Nguu, Tanganyika Territory, there is a
cave haunted (almost within living memory, if not still) by
the spirit of a great mgsnga who in his lifetime was a chid
in Okami. In time of drought the headmen of the Wadoc
and neighbouring tribes would come there to pray for rain.
When they greeted him on their arrival they would hear
a rushing sound, like that of an approaching rainstorm.
Then, in some cases, a voice would be heard, saying,
11 There is an evil man among you,” and would go on to
describe one member of the party by his clothes. It such
' Elknbcrer. Uidary «/ 1&< Kantfi, p. 9°-

2+3

myths and legends of the bantu

a one was indeed present he was at once driven away.
Then they put up their prayer, and if they heard the rushing
sound a second time they knew that their request was
granted, and went away happy. If there was silence ln ^
cave, it was a sign that the spirit was angry, and they had
to “go back in the sun,” instead of being refreshed by a
shower even before they had reached their homes.

This rain-doctor—his name has not been recorded—was
reckoned invulnerable during his lifetime; none of his
enemies could succeed even in wounding him, with arrow,
sword, or gunshot. But unfortunately he happened to
quarrel with his wife when a raiding-party was close at hand,
and she got into communication with the raiders and, like
Delilah, though not for the same reason, betrayed her
husband’s secret. His tabu (mwiko or mzio in Swahili)
was to be struck with the stalk of a pumpkin : if this was
done he would die immediately.

The enemies at once procured a pumpkin-stalk, and threw
it so as to hit him. It did, in fact, kill him, but the manner
of his death was not seen, for a mighty wind arose and
carried him off to the cave of Kolelo, “ where he is to this
day,” and no one could tell whither he went. After some
days his clothes and weapons were found in the cave, but
he was never seen again.

The woods near this cave are uncanny: drums are occa¬
sionally heard there, though no drummers are to be seen, also
the trilling cry made by women at weddings. Sometimes the
traveller comes on an open space among the trees, where
the ground is clean white sand, smooth as if just swept
for a dance: this is where the ghosts hold their revels.

Kolelo and the Majimaji Rising

The name Kolelo attained a certain publicity about 1905,
but not in connexion with the haunted cave in Nguu. This
Kolelo was a huge serpent, living in a cave in the mountains
of Uluguru. 1 The Zaramo people tell how, once upon a
time, two women went into the forest to dig up roots.

1 Klamroth, in Zeitschrift fUr Kolmialsprachen, p. 139.

24 +

244

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

Suddenly they heard a rumbling underground, but could
see nothing to cause it. One woman ran back to the village;
the other, known as Mlamlali, 1 stayed. Presently a great
snake appeared, took the woman into its cave, and said,
“ The High God has sent me. I am to take you to wife
so that you can carry my message to mankind. And you
of the Mlali clan shall be my people and serve me for ever in
this cave. I have two companions, and we are commissioned
to restore everything which has been spoiled or ruined on
earth.”

Mlamlali was long sought for by her friends, but no trace
of her was found, till suddenly she came home wearing
beautiful ornaments and none the worse for her experience.

The message she brought was mainly concerned with
directions for cultivation ; but in 1905 occurred the rising
(known as the “ Majimaji Rebellion ” 2 ) with which
Kolelo’s name is chiefly associated. Two prophets appeared,
who foretold that the sun and moon would rise in the west
and set in the east, and other wonders would be seen.
They forbade the people to pay taxes to the Government,
and won over the adherence of a certain chief by showing
him, as he was persuaded to believe, his deceased father in
the flesh. It appears that they were able to produce a
person with a striking resemblance to the dead man. The
tribesmen were to arm themselves with millet-stalks, which
would turn to rifles in their hands ; they would be supplied
with a certain medicine which would have the effect of
turning the enemy’s bullets to water (maji in Swahili). The
failure of the rising did not put an end to the Kolelo cult;
but his oracles from thenceforth seem only to have concerned
themselves with agricultural matters. For instance, his

1 Women’s names are that of their clan, with the prefix Mia.

2 The rising was known as the “ Majimaji Rebellion ” on account of the belief
in a certain sacred water, stated to have been obtained from the Sudan through
Uganda, which was said to confer invulnerability in battle and to protect the
user against every sort of evil. An account of the whole movement and of the
secret society which is supposed to have originated it was contributed by Mr J. H.
Driberg to the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute , vol. bri, under the title
“ Yakafi.’-’

245

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

medium, Kiganga, forbade people to eat the leaves of the
manioc plant (elsewhere a popular vegetable), perhaps
because it is of comparatively recent introduction into
Uzaramo, All Waznramo know the name of Kiganga,
but no one professes to have seen her. Two men, however,
have met Mlamlali, who acts as caretaker to Kolelo's cave,
and would not allow them to enter it. Another medium
in residence at the cave is Mhangalugome, who interprets
Kolelo's oracles, given in the same way as those of the
Nguu spirit, by a rushing noise in the depth of the cavern,
perhaps causea by an underground river. It is true that it
appears to be intermittent, but this might be accounted for
by varying currents of air.

Witches and 1 Voodoo *

As to the activities of the witch proper, which it is the
business of the mganga to check, very strange things arc
related. Some level-headed missionaries have witnessed
occurrences which they could attribute only to unseen
agencies. Bishop Weston, at Wcti, in the island of Pemba,
saw and felt lumps of clay thrown by invisible hands, one
falling through the iron roof of the hut in which he stood,
another thrown upward from outside. Pemba is a well-
known centre of witchcraft; anyone curious about such
matters can find a detailed account of the witch-guilds and
their horrible sacrifices in Captain Craster’s book Pemba,
the Spice Island of Zanzibar,

The doings of the voachawi (or wanga) there related are
rot unlike those we hear of in the island of Hayti—and we
may be sure they lose nothing in the hands of romancers-—
under the names of Obeah and Voodoo(or Vaudoux). The
subject hardly comes within the scope of this book, but one
thing may be pointed out: it is too commonly assumed that
these doings are typical of African mentality in general, and
constitute an essential part of African religion. But it is a
very suggestive fact that the Pemba witch-guilds and those
described by Dr Nassau in West Africa are recruited from
the slaves, and the same is obviously the case in the West
£46

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

Indies. It should be remembered that many, if not most,
of these people had been sold into slavery for their crimes,
perhaps for this very crime of witchcraft. Dr Nassau
says, in fact, that the Bcnga and neighbouring tribes credited
the slaves as a body with addiction to unlawful arts, and if a
free man died

suspicion almost always located itself on the slave com in unity, for
the reason that it was known that staves did practise the Black
Art, and partly because it was safer to make an Accusation against
a defenceless slave than againsr a free man. It resulted, therefore,
that, jusi because they were defenceless, rbe slaves actually did
practise arts in their supposed self-defence that gave justification
for rhe charge that they were witches and wizards. 1

I have been assured, quite seriously, by more than one
person in the coastal region of Kenya Colony, that certain
sorcerers, whom they called ivangt ), 3 were in rhe habit of
coming to your door in the night and calling the occupant
of the house. If you came out and followed them into the
forest it was implied, rather than stated, that it wan all up
with you. It also seemed to be implied that once the
intended victim hail answered the call he had no choice
but to go and, presumably, be killed and eaten.

The Resuscitated Corpse

Another belief, held strongly in practically every part of
Africa, h that witches hold their revels at the graves of those
recently dead, digging up and reanimating the corpse, and
then killing it again, eating the flesh, and taking some of the
parts as ingredients of the most powerful charms.

But this is not their only reason for resuscitating corpses-
There is a strange and horrible superstition, widely dis¬
tributed, with considerable local variations, to the effect that
It is done in order to obtain a familiar, who can be sent about

> In an fityittt Corral, p. Ij{. Th* Rtnpa live Mir Corinfl Buy, m Spanith

i h it not dear wfait k Ihte*iet diflfe rr ntr trt to n uuqp Mid IV- F_.

TiyEdf derived the fnnm-r word tr®m h up fliKit in the llr/ and Kcmi lu Uaxt
btliertd lerUsuily that shrr* penoni have the i.f 1 WhitSon. But prabftUy

i he word came* from the mci a and [UinM mAu mm^u, ' chirm,

*47

myths and legends of the bantu

lin the warlock's evil errands. The Zulus call such a creature
vrnfol'u : it is supposed to be like a child in stature and EQ be
unable to speak except in an “ inarticulate, confused sort
of wav expressed by the word ukuisfivtoisAwflza. I his is
because the owner has cut off the tip of its tongue, to prevent
its betraying hia secrets; he also, for what purpose is noi
stated, runs a red-hot needle up the forehead. It is em¬
ployed, among other things, to place poison, or what is
believed to have the same effect, in the kraals, and also acts
the part of the Irish banshee, as a death is believed to occur
when it has been seen in a kraal, and shoujd anyone happen
to be ill at the time the relatives would give up all nope of
his recovery. 1 Another account says that they can make
the grass trip up a belated traveller by twining round his legs,
and (a touch recalling the v>anga I was warned against at
Jomvu) if anyone is "foolish enough to answer when they
call his name they cut his throat and, in some way, force
him to become one of them.

The Yaos, and probably some other tribes, arc terrorized
by a thing called a ndundocha, of like origin with the
umhvu, but in some ways very different. According to
information kindly supplied by Dr Meredith Sanderson, on
the day of burial, or within three days from that date, a
wizard goes to the grave at night armed with a * tail or a
horn containing 4 medicine '; with this he strikes the grave,
uttering the words, "Arise ; your mother summons you
The earth in the grave heaves and ‘ boils/ and the corpse
emerges without any visible passage having been made.
The wizard then carries it on nis back to a cave, or to his
house, where he keeps it in the verandah-room (a compait-
incut partitioned off under the broad eaves of the hut;.
Here other medicines arc used, and the legs arc amputated
at the knee-joint. The corpse is now in a statu of semi¬
animation ; it is fed by the owner, but cannot move without
his orders. If it is not fed it cries unceasingly ; its cry is
like the mewing of a cat. It cannot speak. It creeps along

1 tirvim, £uln-En%lii& Ditlivixry, jj. jij. Sm 2U0 Coicmv, Zalu-£ pg^ Jj -
Dirtimart, p.

248

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

the ground, propelling itself by means of th e stumps of its
legs and on its hands. The possession of a ndondocha gives
supernatural power to its owner. It is usually employed for
killing his enemies, and when people hear its cry they say,
“ It is ominous; the banshee has wailed,” meaning that by
morning somebody will have died. Should the owner die
the ‘familiar’ will rot away for want of the necessary
medicines to keep it alive.

The Tuyewera

Even queerer and more uncanny are the tuyewera of the
Kaonde country, in Northern Rhodesia. 1 These are imps,
having the figure of human beings, about three feet high—
though theLambas say they are like a kind of wild cat—and
are made, for a consideration, by sorcerers, not professedly
in order to kill people, but to get wealth for the purchaser.
They do this by (invisibly) stealing the food of his neighbours
and adding it to his store. After a while they tell him that
they are lonely and want company, and if be does not name
some one for them to kill they will kill him. He names a
person, whom they kill by sucking his breath when he is
asleep ; he then becomes one of them. The owner has to
keep on supplying them with victims, and at last is himself
killed, either by them or by his neighbours on discovering
that he possesses tuyewera.

The Lambas occasionally procure these ^mps from the
Kaonde practitioners, but for the purpose of counteracting
witchcraft rather than of increasing their possessions. A man
will come and tell the maker that he has lost a number of
his relatives in suspicious circumstances, and wants some
powerful ubwanga to put a stop to this. He is supplied with
a pair, takes them home, and makes a sleeping-place tor them
in the bush, not far from his hut. The witches are soon got
rid of, but the tuyewera are by no means satisfied- The man
has to name one friend or kinsman after another, and at last
his wife. When he really has no one left to give them he

i Melland, In Witch-bound Africa, p. 204, and Doke, The Lambas of Northern
Rhodesia, p. 315.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

nicks them up and carries them back to the maker, saying,
E Here are your little things. The people are all finished.
But so long as one of his kin remains they will not go.

The Baila call these creatures by a slightly different name,
Jobela » and say they are the ghosts of men and women
who have been killed by witches. These are said to raise
ud the dead person “ as an evil spirit ; but from the
accounts given it is not clear how this process differs from
that of restoring the corpse to life, since the
solidly material enough to bite people. Mr Smith s friend
Mungolo had seen them, and at first took thern for children,
as they were only eighteen inches high, but on looking
again he saw that they had the bodies of full-grown men
and their faces were turned round the wrong way. Their
activities are much the same as those already described;
“ they are sent out to steal, to make people sick, and to kill.

A West African Parallel ,. .

The Mayombe, in French Congo, have a belief m some
gruesome beings which recall the above descriptions. they
are small in stature, have legs cut off at the kne^high
shoulders, and one remarkably long finger-nail; theirslcm
is jet-black, and their hair long and tangled. They are called
nluyu unana. But, instead of being fabncated by sotcete
for their own evil purposes they are the ghosts °f
who rise from the grave of their own accord. They wander
about burial-grounds and deserted villages, approach people s
houses by night in order to steal chickens; theyfrighten
children, and occasionally attack grown persons. They speaK
through the nose, and may be heard moaning and com¬
plaining of the cold. Sometimes they play tricks on people
by imitating children’s voices. If a man should succeed
shooting one of these creatures he ought to burn the body
—presumably to prevent its rising again. If he misses ne

1 Dolce, The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, p. 315. .

* Smith and Dale, The Ila-speahmg Peoples, voLu, p. 1tj*.• The
derived from kuyobela, 'to twitter,’ because they chirp and tw.tteran
Perhaps the word used in Kaonde is a corruption of this, as I cann
etymology for it in that language.

25O

DOCTORS, PROPHETS, AND WITCHES

should pour poison into the hole by which it has been in
the habit of leaving and re-entering the grave

After these the more ordinary witches familiars and
messengers, such as baboons, hyenas, leopards, wiId-cats,
owk, seem quite commonplace.

SP Thc°Swahil! and some of the neighbouring coast tnhes
have as might lie expected, modified their beliefs to some
e££t unde? Moslem^nfluer.ee, The spirits ofthedead are
sometimes called wazuk^ but more often spoken ot by the
Arabic names cf>* and thttmh **J thouff* e
^till if 1 mistake not, a power in the land, the charms he
supplies are apt t« be slips of paper with a ^rse of the Koran
written on them, or a magic square bearing the names ot
the four angels (Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, Israfil), with other
words of P U Women and children mightjij
been scon twenty years ago wearing the amulet of seven
k i 10t5 ” a cord of black wool over which thc wise man, as
he tied each knot, had repeated the Sara 2 a Sin (the thir y-

9Ut One h way oHiijuring an^cnemy is to get a duly qualified
person to read Hal liadiri " against him--that iS, to intone
the incantations contained in an originally harmless ^
of prayers offered in the names of those who fuught at he

battle of Badr (the A hi Badri in corre “ _rtvc of

the spiteful or vindictive person may go to ^e gravc or
renown saint (such as the ^tcknowna.I a She he
Jundani at Mombasa) and leave an offering there, bur ^
a little incense while uttering hk or her des re.
flll oravers put up at Shehc Jundani's tomb arc necessarily
malignant ; ? no doubt there are many artless petitions akin
in -wit to those one has seen pencilled on thcwallsol Sam-
in spirit to tnj Paris—-for children, for success m

love^possibly (since the 14 march of progress " has not left
MomLsa untouched) for success in exam .nations. 1 hesc,
of course, could hardly be classed as magic—-black or whi .

I BitlrrrnleuJ, n t p- 5 l0+ ^

CHAPTER XVII: BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

T HE Uncle Remus stories, which suddenly became so
popular about fifty years ago, not only delighted both
young and old, but attracted the serious attention of
folklore students. It is now generally recognized—though
the point was hotly debated at first—that they originally
came from Africa, brought by the Negro slaves, who, in the
southern states, seem mostly to have belonged to Bantu¬
speaking tribes. 1 When it was discovered that the Indians
of the Amazon had numbers of similar tales it was suggested
by some that the Negro stories had been directly or indirectly
borrowed from them; by others that the Indians had bor¬
rowed them from the Brazilian Negroes. Neither suggestion
seems to fit the facts. On the one hand, every story in
“ Uncle Remus ” can be shown to exist in a more primitive
shape in Africa, and among people who cannot be suspected
of having imported it from America or elsewhere. Thus
the “ Tar-baby ” story is known, in slightly differing forms,
to the Duala, the Sumbwa (a tribe to the south of Lake
Victoria), the Mbundu of Angola, the Makua, the people
of the Lower Congo, and several more.

On the other hand, the more we know of the folk-tales
current in different parts of the world the less likely it seems
that the Amazonian Indians should have borrowed their
stories from the Negroes. In the Malay Peninsula, where
the local equivalent for Brer Rabbit is the little mouse-deer,
he figures in much the same incidents as the African hare
and Hlakanyana. These incidents and the traits of character

1 Most, as is generally supposed, from the Congo; but there is evidence that slaves
were frequently, during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, imported from
Mozambique and other ports on the East Coast. 44 Mombasas ” are mentioned
among the Negro slaves in Cuba ; and many cargoes of slaves were smuggled from
Havana into the southern states after the import trade had been declared illegal.
This perhaps explains why the African hare (Kalulu of the Nyanja, Sungura of
the Swahili) should be such a prominent figure in Negro folklore, while his place is
taken on the Congo (where it appears there are no hares) by the little antelope known
as the water chevrotain. The slaves of the British West Indies were chiefly West
Africans (Yorubas, Ibos, Fantis, etc.), and their 4 Nancy ’ stories are mostly con¬
cerned with the spider (Anansi).

252

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

which they illustrate are common to human nature all the
world over; the animal actors, of course, vary locally.

The Jackal

In India it is the jackal who plays clever tricks on the
stronger and fiercer animals ; in Europe the fox ; in New
Guinea and Melanesia yvt others. The tortoise* however*
seems a universal favourite, except, perhaps, tn North
Germany, where one of his best-known adventures is

ascribed to the hedgehog. . f

The jackal is the hero for the Hottentots, and also tor
the Csllaand Somali of North-eastern Africa, who consider
the hare a stupid sort of creature, and blame him (at least
the Hottentots do) for—like the chameleon d«where—
taking away men's hope of reviving after death. I he Moon,
angry with him for failing to deliver his message, threw a
chunk of wood at him, which is why his lip is spht to this day.

The Basuto have—.apparently through contact with t ie
Hottentots—confused the characters of the jackal and the
hare, giving to the former the famous story of the Animals
and the Well, which will be related presently, though the
hare comes into his own on several other occasions.

Hare, not Rabbit L . „ ,

It is unfortunate that so many writers, no doubt influenced
bv “ Uncle Remus," used the word * rabbit in translating
African stories. There are, I believe, no rabbits properly
so called, in Africa, and Sungura, Kalulu, bulwe, and
Mut liny ana 1 undoubtedly represent what wc mean by *
hare. Uncle Remus would naturally speak ot the more
familiar animal, just as he makes Brer Wolf and Brer box

take the place of the hyena, . , f

Jncottet, in his translation of a ScsuEo tale, speaks of
'rabbit' victimized by Little Hare. This ammal (AM)i is,
according to Msbille and Dieterlen s dictionary, the red
hare (jLafirJ craisica^tas). Whether this is the same as the
• March Hare’ of the Ldas and Lambas—the name Itterally

i The Sham »nd Snulo twroa F« tbe ' link hmr-'

2 S3

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

means the “ Mad Big Hare ”—it would be interesting to
discover; but I have nowhere met with a description of this
latter creature.

Animals which figure in the Tales

The hare, then, we may say, is really the most pro¬
minent figure in the tales we are considering. Next to him
—indeed, in some ways more successful in triumphing over
his enemies, and once, at least, getting the better of the hare
himself—is the tortoise.

The lion, the elephant, and, more frequently, the hyena
are the foils and dupes, whose strength and fierceness are no
match for the nimble wits of the little hare and the slow,
patient wisdom of the tortoise. More inoffensive creatures,
sad to say—the bush-buck, the duiker, and the monitor
lizard—occasionally fall victims.

The crocodile is sometimes introduced, and not always
in an evil aspect: for instance, a Tumbuka tale shows him
helpful to the other animals and treated with gross ingrati¬
tude by the tortoise. The hippopotamus also makes an
occasional appearance, and it would be possible to make a
long list of animals and birds which are mentioned—some
of them repeatedly—but play no very conspicuous parts.

The Animals and the Well

I will begin with the story of the Well, though I cannot
pretend to arrange the hare’s adventures (except for the final
and fatal one) in chronological order. Some episodes are
linked together in natural sequence, but such groups could,
as a rule, be placed anywhere in the series without breaking
the connexion.

It was a different matter when some unnamed Low German
poet (or succession of poets) combined into the epic of
Reynard the Fox (Reinke Vos) the scattered beast fables current
in the Middle Ages. I have no doubt that one day a genius
will arise in some Bantu tribe to perform the same service
for Sungura. 1

1 It seems desirable to have a proper name for occasional use, and perhaps it is
most convenient to keep to the Swahili form throughout.

254

BRER RABBIT IK AFRICA

1 am not forgetting that the Mosuto AzarielSckesehas
done something of the kind in h.s P rose story The f***fj?
of the Birds, But this is rather a satire than the kind of epic
that I have in mind, though it is h very’ remarkable work in

its own way.

On*c uponV time there was a terrible drought over all
the country. No rain had fallen for many months, and the
limits were like to die of thirst. All the pools and water¬
courses were dried up. So thelion called the beasts together
to the dry bed of a river, and suggested th:it . ^'^houtd all
Stamp on the sand and see whether they- could not bnng out
some water. The elephant began, and stamped his hardes ,
but produced no result, except a choking cloud of dust.
Then the rhinoceros tried, with no bettcr succcw; then
the buffalo; then the rest in turn—still nothing but dust
dust! At the beginning of the proceeding the ^
had sent to call the bare, but he said, 1 don t want to

“ Now there was no one left but the tortoise, ^om th,y dl
had overlooked on account of his insignificance He came
forward and began to Stamp; the onlookers l*u|hed and
iecred But, behold I before long there appeared a damp
L ot i n the river-bed. And the rhinoceros, enraged that a
Sink- thins like that should succeed where he had failed,
otb h I .... and au u. against . «*•*-»-
shell was broken into a hundred pieces. _ While he sat,

g£* S *■*£?

aa id *' l.et the tortoise come and try. oero - .

S^SL'iSl 1 by their

SSSsaaassEBjSS

at take any of the water, knnw.ng eh»r».ter.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

they assumed that he would try to do so, and agreed to take
turns in keeping watch over the well.

The hyena took the first watch, and after an hour or two
saw the hare coming along with two calabashes, one empty
and one full of honey. He tailed out a greeting to the hyena,
was answered, and asked him what he was doing there. The
hyena replied, " I am guarding the well because of you, that
you may not drink water here.” '* Oh, said the hare,
" i don't want any of your water; it is muddy and bitter,
i have much nicer water here." I he hyena, his curiosity
roused, asked to taste the wonderful water, and Sun gun
handed him a stalk of grass which he had dipped in the
honey. " Oh, indeed, it is sweet! Just let me have some
more ! ” “ I can't do that unless you let me tie you up to
the tree; this water is strong enough to knock you over if
you are not tied.” The hyena had so great a longing lor the
sweet drink that he readily consented; die hare tied him up
so tightly that he could not move, went on to the well, and
filled his calabash; then he jumped in, splashed about to
his heart's content, and finally departed laughing.

In the morning the animals came and found the hyena
tied to the tree. " Why, Hyena, who has done this to you ?"
" A great host of strong men came in the middle of the night,
seized me, and tied me up.” The lion $atd, '* No such
thing! Of course it was the hare, all by himself.” The
lion took hfsturn at watching that night; but, strange to say,
he fell a victim to the same trick, Onable to resist the lure
of the honey, he was ignominiously tied to the tree.

There they found him next morning, and the hyena, true
to hts currish nature, sneered: " So it was many men who
tied you up. Lion? ” The lion replied, with quiet oignity:
"You need not talk; he would be too much for any
of us.”

The elephant then volunteered to keep watch, but with
no better success; then the rest of the animals, each in his
turn. Only to be defeated by one trick or another.

At last the tortoise came forward, saying, " 1 am going to
catch that one who is in the habit of binding people 1 ” The
i$6

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

others began to jeer: “ Nonsense I Seeing how he has
outwitted\ ib, the ciders, what can you do—a little one like
you?" But the elephant took his part, and said that tie
should be allowed to try.

The Tortoise is loo sharp far die Hare .....

The tortoise then smeared his shell all over with bird¬
lime, plunged into the well, and sat quite still at the bottom.
When the hare came along that night and saw no watcher
he sang out, " Hallo I Hallo 1 the well I Is there no one
here 5 ” Receiving no answer, he said, Lhcyre atraid
of me I I've beaten them all I Now for the water He
sat down beside the well, ate his honey, and filled both his
gourds* before starting to bathe. Then he stepped inm
the water and found both his feet caught. He cried out,
« Who are you ? I don’t want your water; mine is sweet.
Let me l-o, and you can try* it” But there was no answer.
He strLiL'ded ; he nut down one hand 1 to free iu insert; he
put down rhe other; he was caught fast. There was no
hdo for it; there he had to stay till the animals came in the
morning.* And when they him they s^d. Now,
indeed, the hare has been shown up 1 -

hi m to the hvtilo for judgment, and the l ion said, \\ hy did
you first disobey and afterwards Steal the water r ^ I he
hare made no attempt to plead his cause, but said, Ju»t
cie me up, and I shall die! ” The lion ordered Jum to be
bound, but the hare made one more suggestion. l)on t
tic me with coconut-rope, but with green banana-hbre,
then if you throw me out m the sun I shall die very

^They did so, and after a while, when they hoard the
banana-bast cracking as it dried up in the heat, they began
to get suspicious, and some one said to the lion that

i It iquia common for Afcte« » V* ^1^1X1"

hii i ti»l Ud lO tw fci th* WkJ from * unrip*^ quirtrr,

t, *

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

would surely break his bonds. The hare heard him and
groaned out, as though at his fast gasp, " Let me alone.
I'm just going to dtel ” So he lay still for another hour,
and then suddenly stretched himself; the banana-fibre
gave way, and he was off before they could recover from
their astonishment. They started in pursuit, but he out¬
ran them all, and they wore nearly giving up in despair
when they saw him on the top of a distant ant-hill, apparently
waiting tor them to come up. When they gat within ear¬
shot he called out, “ I’m off! You’re fools, all of you t ”
and disappeared into a hole in the side of the ant-hill. The
animals hastened up and formed a circle round the hill,
white the elephant came forward and thrust his trunk into
the hole. After groping about for a while he seized the
hare by the car, and the hare cried, 41 That’s a leaf you’ve
got hold of. You’ve not caught me I” The elephant
Jet go and tried again, this time seizing the hare’s leg.
41 0-o~q-q-o ! He’s got hold of a root.” 1 Again the
elephant let go, and Sungura slipped out of his reach into
the depths of the burrow.

The animals grew tired of waiting, and, leaving the
elephant to watch the ant-hill, went to fetch hoes, so that
they might dig out the hare. While they were gone the
hare, disguising his voice, called out to the elephant, “You
who are watching the burrow open your eyes wide and keep
them fixed on this hole, so that the hare may not get past
without your seeing him ! " The elephant unsuspectingly
obeyed, and Sungura, sitting just inside the entrance, kicked
up a cloud of sand into hts eyes and dashed out past him.
The elephant, blinded and in pain, was quite unaware of his
escape, and kept on watching the hole till the other animats
came back. They asked if Sungura was still there. 41 He
may be, but he has thrown sand into my eyes.” They fell
to digging, and, of course, found nothing.

1 Ompirc Jtfnini Brer Tairypin caught by Brer Fax? ” TVu Id™ tl«
RUimp-rtxri ini" ketch hpJd v me ! " Thu [nddertl Draun id V4riaui ccnr»e*LLi e» i
ii. tunic* m quite apprapriaieljr here.

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

The Hart's Disguises

Meanwhile the hare had gone away into the bush,
plaited his hair in the latest fashion, plastered it with wax ‘
taken from a wild bees' nest, and whitened his face with
day, so that he was quite unrecognizable. Then he strolled
casually past the place where the animals were at work,
asked what they were doing, and offered to help. He was
given a hoe, which he used with such vigour that it soon
came off tire handle. He asked the giraffe for the loan ot
his lee, used it as the handle of his hoe, and speedily broke
it, whereupon he shouted, "I’m the hare ! and Bed, taking
refuge in another ant-hill, which had more than one entrance.
They Started to dig; he escaped through the second hole,
which they had not noticed, disguised himself afresh, ana
came back as before. This time, when his hoe came off
the handle, he asked the elephant to let him hammer it in
on his head ; and he did it with such good-will that he soon
killed him. He ran away once more, shouting insults as
he went, and the animals, having lost their two principal
leaders, returned home, weary and discouraged.

The Hare nurses the Lioness's Cubs

The hare then went on his way quite happily, till, some
time later, he met a lioness, who seized him and was about
to kill him. But he pleaded so eloquently for his J«le,
assuring her that he could make himself very useful tf a bt
would let him be her servant, that at last she relented an
took him home to her den. Next day, when she went out
to hun i, she left him in charge of her ten cubs. « hile she

i Virion* dueii w-i mentioned Died by the hire. Al rvLlJ f M

he make* hinMeJJTi W-rinff flihe ■»“" b 7 ^uln and T benp «"») * ^

when- he pl*«» hin.*SF ill over with mud, or *h»™

hi, Ain but l ihinL [hu tentefem own properly helong^ ® HTL““
eJumtier chjuaticrj. nr n»tn hllllielf M over with If.'in- In Ivndr R-mu.
Brt Kslihit, t&tr iptUinE Mime honey over hinuelX. nfl* m the teU™ tw»“ a

^tk&isesSS*. .r * *. w

in nmkinpr lhr<» ten. The Un-no «*** .he j-wtui the tvnj (if«heC»b«eM
and the Akarnlu the hyew. prrhop. thlakioB « rtildw«« fcw
on the prtihahiliiiri ( but pmlwhilitie*, at we ham teen, eovnl fur (Wthmp w>
the Buicu i*k-teller.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OP THE BANTU

was gone Sungura took the cubs down to the stream to
play, and suggested that they should wrestle. lie wrestled
with one of them, threw- it, and twisted its neck as they lay
on the ground. Returning to the cave with the others,
he skinned and ate the dead one at the first convenient
opportunity. In the evening the mother came home
and, staying outside the cave, told the hare to bring the
children out for her to nurse. He brought one, and when
she to], I him to bring the rest he objected, saying it was
better to bring them out ime by one. Having Suckled the
first, she handed it back, and he brought her the remaining
eight, taking the last twice over.

Next day he did the same, bringing out the last cub three
times, andf so deceived the mother into thinking she had
suckled the whole ten. This went on until he had eaten
all but one, which he brought out ten times; when it came to
the tenth time the lioness noticed that the cub refused to suck.
The hare explained that it had nut been well all day, and the
lioness was satisfied, and only told him to take good care of it.

The Hare and the Baboons

As soon as she was gone next day he killed, skinned,
and ate the last cub, and, taking the other skins from the
place where he had hidden them, set out on his travels.
Towards evening he came to the village of the baboons,
and found the 1 men' playing with teetotums 1 in the
‘ forum.’ He went and sat down in the usual place tor
strangers, and when some of them came to greet him said,
" 1 have brought beautiful skins to sell. Does anyone
want to buy them?" The baboons crowded round, ad¬
miring the skins, and all ten were soon disposed of. They
then returned to their game, and the hare sat watching
them. Presently he said, “ You are not playing right.
Shall 1 show you how ? ” They handed him a teetotum,
and he began to spin it, singing all the time :

11 Wc have citen rhf lion** children on the quiet! ,f

1 Called in Myauland ■mtin, Su( found in many other pirn of Africa ; msdr of a
pj’ei'je of gourd-t fir II, with a iplimcf ef weed ([hr ifaeof a match) '«*eJ( through >*•

x6o

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

They listened attentively, and then said, " Let us learn
this song "; so he taught'rhcm the words, and they prac¬
tised for the rest of the evening. After which he shared
their meal, and was given a hut to sleep in-

In the morning he was off before it was light, and made
his way back to the lions' den, where he found the lioness
distractedly searching for her missing cubs. On the way
he had been careful to roll in the mud and get himself
well scratched by the thorny bushes, so that he presented
a most disorderly appearance. On Seeing her he set up
a dismal wail. “Oh! Oh! Borne wild beasts came
yesterday and carried off your children. T hey were too
much for me; 1 could do nothing- See how they knocked
me about and wounded me! Hut I followed them, an
I can show you where they live. If you come with me t ou
will be able to kill them all. But you had better let me tie
you up in a bundle of grass and put some beans just inside,
and I will carrv you and tell them that I have broug t a
load of beans. They have the skins of your children,
whom 1 saw them eating.” The lioness agreed, and,
having tied her up, the hare started with his load. Arriving
at the village, he laid it down in the place for strangers.
The baboons were so intent on them game that they hardly
noticed him at first, and the lioness could hear them singing
with all their might:

" We hive eaten tt» IiotTs eMMran on the qutet/*

After a while they came up and greeted Sungura, and he
said that he had brought them a toad of beans in return for

their hospitality of the day before He loo f "“ l
of the bundle, to show them the beans, and then cageidy
accepted their invitation to join m the game. By the time
it was once more in full swing the lioness had worked
herself free, and sprang on the nearest baboon bearing him
to the ground. The others tried to escape, but he hare
had run round to the gate of the enclosure dosed it, and
fastened the bar. Then began a murder grim and
great ” ; not one of the baboons was left alive, and hen

myths and legends of the bantu

the hare had bmoght out theakin* of die p«reuh. and
bid them before the lioness she knew for a certainty that
she had but done Justice, and was duly grateful to the
haje. He, however, thought it just as well not to remain
in her neighbourhood, so took hi* leave and resumed hi»
wanderings.

The Hare and the Hyena . , ..

We may pass over two or three more of the exploits
commonly attributed to him : how he treated an unoffending
an tel ope as III akanyan a treated the ogre s mother; how, again

like Hbkanyana, he got a lion to help him thatch a hut and
fastened his tail into the thatch ; and how he killed another
lion by getting him to swallow a red-hot stone wrapped in
a quantity of fat. The Galls and, I think, the Hottentots

attribute this exploit to the jackal.

Some of the most popular incidents arise out ot Jus
friendship with the hyena. How this friendship originated
and why he should have chosen to ally himself with tlus
most unattractive beast is not clear: the stories are apt to
begin baldly with the statement that “ the hare and the
hyena (or the tortoise and the monitor, or various other
pairs, as the case may be) made friendship with each other
tibweitZ( % in Nyanja), no explanation icing
offered. It will be seen that for any tricks played on the
hyena the hare had ample provocation, and the final injury
he suffered could by no means be condoned.

One very popular story tells how, being in want nt toot*
thev went to the chief of u certain village and offered to
cultivate his garden. He agreed, and gave them a pot or
beans as their food-supply for the day. When they reached
the garden they made a fire and put the beans on to boil.
By the time they knocked off for the midday rest the beans
were done, and the hyena, saying that he wanted to wa! *i
before eating, went to the stream and left the hare to watch
the pot. No sooner was he out of sight than he stripped
off his sktn and ran back. The hare, thinking this was
some strange and terrible beast* lost his head and ran away ;
afia

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

tlve hyena sat dour, by the fire, finished the whole pot full of
beans, returned to the stream, resumed his skin, and came
back at his leisure. The hare, as all seemed quiet* vCntul ‘ c
hack, found the pot empty and the hyena clamorously
demanding his food. The hare explamcd that he had been
frightened away by an unknown monster, which had
3*-ip ek beau,. The hyena refund to aeeept
this excuse, and accused the hare of having eaten the beans
himself The unfortunate hare had to go hungry; but,
finding denial useless, contented himself with remarking
that if that beast came again he meant to shoot he

set to work making . bow The hyena watched mu dl
the how was finished, and then said. 1 ou h.ive not
rmde it right. Give it here I " And, taking it^ m *
he pretended to trim it into shape, but all du! while he was
cuttine away the wood so as to weaken it in one spot, l he
“£1. fc.uap.cmd nothing, find knpt h.s W hnndy
Against the lunch-hour Oil the following day When the
■wild beast’ appeared he fitted an arrow to the stnug and
bent the bow, but it broke in Ins hand, and once more

hC By this time his suspicions were awakened, ud when he
had made himself a new bow he hid it in the grass when the
KSTwi not looking. On the next om when the
hvena appeared he shot at him and wounded him, but not

& * * he ran ^ to ^ r\

returned to find the hare calmly eating beans.

In one Nyasaland version of this tale it was °ot the iv ■

but the elephant or the ( zimwt, a

Wv of whom it was difficult to get a clear account, who

tricked the hare and was shot dead by him m the end , bu
the hyena fits in better (the poor, good elephant re more
usually the dupe). A nd, according to some accounts, his end

was to come otherwise.

together alter game. They found a gomea-fowl a neetfuU

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

of eggs, 1 and soon After trapped a guinea-fowl. They carried
their spoils home, and the hare said to hi? friend, \ou
roast the fowl and the eggs. I’m tired; I want to go. to
sleep.” The hyena made up the fire, fitted the bird on a
stick, and put'the eggs into the hot ashes. When the
savoury steam filled the hut hi* mouth began to water, and
when he had made sure that the guinea-fowl was done he
ate it up, all but the legs, which he put into the fire He
then ate the eggs, carefully cleaned the shell of one and put
it aside, together with one quill, threw the rest of the
feathers into the fire, and lav down to sleep,

Thesmdl of the burning feathers awakened Sunguta, who
started up, called the hyena, and then noticed that the
guinea-fowl was missing. When asked where it was t ie
hyena said he had fallen asleep while it was roasting, and it
had got burned. The hare suspected the truth, but san!
nothing at the time. A little later he suggested that they
should go to their respective relations ana get some food;
so they separated. The hyena w ent a little way, and as soon
as he was out of sight lay down in the grass and slept. Fhe
hare, too, did not go far, but hid himself and waited awhile ;
then he gathered some banana-leaves and stealthily followed
his partner. He tied him tip and gave him a good beating,
which effectually wakened him, so that he cried for mercy,
though he could not see who was attacking him. f he hare
then went away, and a little later pretended to come upon
his victim unexpectedly, kicked the supposedly unknown
object in his path, and said, *' What’s this ?

'* I'm here, your friend 1 ”

* 4 What’s the matter? " tl

** Some man came along and tied me up and beat me,

" Do you know who it was? "

*' No, I don't,”

The hare condoled with the hyena, and they remained
quiet for a few days, when the hyena heard that there was

i The Central and So u (hem African,, as a rat, do not e« egy 3 (’ ri,h
fril* 1 * thiv are labu w yoiin# people only]. If they do they do not teem n*
chit wlirl ficr, or how kuig, [bey have been lit on*

264

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

to be :i dalice at his village, and invited the hare: to go -with
him. The hare accepted, but said lie wanted to go home

first: he would come in the afternoon.

The hyena went and had a bath, pot himself up in
best clothes, complete w ith beads, for the donee, and as a
finishing-touch, put the egg-shell on his head and atuck the
feather into it. When the hare arrived he welcomed him
warmly asked him to sit down, and thereupon took hiss smart
(a kind of clarinet) and played ;
i* The guinea-fowl end all I Put the blame on the fire! tit tit ti! " 1

These are supposed to be ' riddling words,’ mw™ ya
[umbo. They are explained to mean ; “ l vc eaten up the
guinea-fowl and all, though I pretended it hud got burned
the hare understood them well enough; he sprang uj ,
seized a big drum, and fell to beating It and singing 1
“ I look him and bound him with banana-leave* anil beat him ! ft
f«! ft”

Then ensued a free fight, which, strange to say, did not
dissolve the partnership. 1

The Hyena kills the Hare's Mother

There is a story, very variously told, of a visit paid by
the two to the hyena’s wife's relations, in which ihc hare
defeats the hyena’s tricks anti finally turns the tables on him,

but I hasten on to the final break. ■>.

In a time of famine, having exhausted ^possible
food-supply, the hyena proposed that he should kill and cat
hifmoTer^nd the hie ihould do the same. I he hare
agreed, but kept his reflections to hunsdt. The hyena wi
away killed his mother, and ate her; the hare went,
SSSr for the same purpose, but hid h» mother m a cave
which could be reached only by climbing up the face of the

r..Uowfll hist, «*sivuifTGW«J_

but tht? hyena, -br<m m find rlnwhcre, m the mom pr. 4 g ^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

cliff* and left with her a supply of wild herbs and roots*
having first agreed on a signal to make his presence known.
Next day, when the hyena had departed on his own business,
the hare went to the cave and uttered the password. On
hearing his mother's answer he called out to her to let down
a rope, by which he el imbed up into the cave. She had
cooked sufficient food for herself and him, and after a hearty
meal he returned to the place where he had left his friend.
And this he did day by day.

The hyena, in the meantime, had finished his meat by the
second day, and could not make out why the hare never
seemed in want of food. So one day he followed him, and,
hiding in the bushes, heard him give the password and the
mother answer, and saw him drawn up into the cave. Next
day he watched his opportunity, went to the cave, and called
out the word, but there was no answer, the hare having
warned his mother to take no notice should anyone else
come. He saw that the hare had deceived him, and went
away nursing his grievance, but at a loss what to do about it.
He decided to consult the leopard, but got no help from
him, only the suggestion that he had better go to the
ant-eater.

The ant-eater, on hearing his story, said that there was
no hope for him unless he could imitate the hare s voice
so ski,fully as to deceive his mother; and to make this
possib e he advised him to go to a nest of soldier-ants and
put his tongue in among them ; if he got it well stung his
voice would be softened. 5 He did this, but was unable to
endure the pain for more rhan a short time. He returned
to the ant-eater, who desired him to try his voice, and found
that it was not much improved. The ant-eater said, <l My
friend, you're a coward. It you want to eat the hare s
mother you will have to go back and let the ants bite your
tongue till it is half its present si/.e I ”

The hyena's greed and resentment were stronger than his

1 The ogre in the nTury nf TieUiit (ind pdinilar one*) Kjftcni hi* rflicfi by s1 p* J '
le? wi n |f mi -bo! Irba. He doc? ibis on C he advice «F the wivdl -doctor* Brer V o r
in like wc t (joei la the bkcWutbn
266

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

dread of pain, so he went back and let the ants work their
will on him till the desired result was obtained. In fact,
when he went back to the cave the hare’s mother was com¬
pletely taken in and let down the rope at once—to her
undoing.

The Hare’s Revenge

When the hare went as usual on the following day he got
no answer to his call, and, looking round, saw traces of
blood on the grass. Then he guessed what had happened,
and thought how he might be revenged. When he met the
hyena again he said nothing, but went away and made his

Pr He came forth in the evening most splendidly adorned
the details, of course, vary locally, from a wealth of brass
and copper chains, pendants, rings, and ear-ornaments to
the white shirt, embroidered coat, silver-mounted sword,
and jewelled dagger of the coast men. Having thoroughly
excited the hyena’s admiration and envy, he showed him a
mark on the top of his head, and told him that he had had a
red-hot nail driven in there, and that if he, the hyena, would
submit to the same operation he might be similarly adorned.
The foolish beast was quite willing—the hare had the red-hot
iron ready—and that, of course, was the end of Hyena.

In Nights with Uncle Remus this story is told (under the
curious title “Cutta Cord-La”) by an old man who, unlike
Remus himself, had been brought from Africa in his youth.

The hyena has become Brer Wolf, and Brer RabbU hides

his grandmother “ in da top one big coconut-tree --an

African touch which puzzles the child listener.

has a red-hot poker thrust down his throat by the blacksmith,

to soften his voice, or “ mekky him talk easy.

The story is found in many different parts of Afric ,
though the actors in it are not always the same. This is
also the case with the “Tar-baby” story, which is so well
known that I need do no more than refer to it.

In spite of Sungura’s pranks (some of them cruel enough

especially when played on the elephant, who, somewhat

myths and legends of the bantu

surprisingly, Is not credited with much sense), he is always
regarded with a certain affection- And it « only fair to
recall one or two incidents which show him in a more
amiable light than those hitherto given.

The Hare overcomes both Rhino and Hippo

The Famous * tug-of-war' story sometimes (as in Uncle
Remus ,T ) belongs to the tortoise, but quite as often the hero
is the hare. So It is told by the Anyanjs, Lhe Bail a, the
Wawembu, the Ansenga (Northern Rhodesia), and prob-

ab 'l'he h2re°challengcd the hippopotamus and the rhinoceros
to a trial of strength, 1 going to each m turn and saying,
“ l ake hold of this rope, and let us pull against each other.
I am izoing to the bank yonder/’ lie then disappeared into
the bushes, carrying what purported to be his end of the
rope, and calling out as he went, ‘ L Wait till you feci me pull
at mv end, and then begin,” He had stationed the two
on opposite sides of a bush-covered island, and when he
reached a point midway between them he pulled the rope
in both directions. Rhino and hippo both pulled with ah
their might; their strength being about equal, neither gave
way to any extent, though the former, after a while, was
dragged forward a little, and when he recovered himself
went back with such a rush that he dragged the hippo out
on to the bank, whereat they both ejaculated, Stupendous
and Hippo called, ” Hare! hare 1 ” but without receiving
any answer. They went on pulling till they were both ex¬
hausted, and the rhino said, ** I will go and see that man
who is pulling me,” and just then the hippo put his hem!
out of the water, and said, " Who is that pulling met
And Chipembelc (the rhino) said, ” Why, Shin aka mb eza
(one of Hippo’s ‘praise-names’), is it you pulling me.-
“ It is I, Why, who was he that brought you the rope,
Chipembele? ” ’ " It was the hare. Was it he who gave it
to you, Hippo ? ” “ Yos, it was he.”

* The lLi wrikm Kiiin the main been folktwnd. See Smith jud Dak, T*t lt*‘
/uattwg Petfteh wot- if, p-177*

®68

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA

It seems that these two had previously been at enmity,
and the rhino had vowed never to set foot m the river. Hut
the fact that both had equally been made fools of disposed
them more favourably towards each other.

Thus they became recondled, and that is why Rhinoceros
drink-, water to-day. Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus, when they
do nut s« each other in the flesh, Rhinoceros will drink water
in rhe river where Hippo lives, and Hippopotamus cum« our to go
grazing where Rhinoceros has hi* home.

This is the conclusion given by the Bail a to the story;
other people end it differently; cither the rope breaks and
both competitor* fall backward, or the hare (or the tortoisi.)
cuts it asunder in the middle, with the same result. In a
Nyania version it is the elephant who pulls against the
hippopotamus t both are tired nut, and the hare goes to
each in turn and claims a forfeit, which he gets

It is obvious that after the story had reached America
the characters had to be changed. Brer Tarrypm challenged
the bear, and, as no other animal of equal size w as available,
he fastened the other end of the rope to a tree.

The Hare decides a Case 1 . . . . .

There is a very popular tale in which the hare shows
himself both wise and helpful. There was a man who
lived by hunting. One day, just as he was about to take
a pig and an antelope out of his traps, a lion sprang F
him, and threatened to kill him unless he gave him a share
ru. In fear of his life, he agreed and allowed the
Sou to take our the hearts, livers, and such other titbits as
he chose, while he Uwdf earned the rest home. I im
happened every day, and the man's wife was consumed
wilh curiosity, when she Found that there was neither heart
nor liver in'any of the animals he brought home, bhc
insisted, in spice of his denial, that he had given these o

, 0 « vwtfca of thb u m hr friuad fn Mr JWi'i ***&££*

55u“ l SS?fS»5f ™' a) * SJ.ISSSS 1 '

P . jW. ******• hue <kdd * 1 mJrt ^ 269

myths and legends of the bantu

some other woman, and so, one day, started carlytolook
at his traps, and was herself caught i n oneot them. P resent 1 )
the man and the lion arrived on the scene, and the latter

demanded his share of the game. I .

his wife* the linn insisted on holding him to Ins bargain.
The wretched man, driven to deaeration, was about to
give in, and the woman would have paid dearly tor her
suspicions, had the hare not happened to pass by. The
husband saw him, and called on him to help ; Mwakatsoo*
said at first that it was no business of his, but, yielding at
last to the man's entreaties, he stopped, and heard both
sides of the story. H e then ordered the man to release his
wife, and set the trap again. This having been done, he
asked the Hon to show him how the woman had got into it.
The lion fell into the trap, both figuratively anti literal]v,
■' and got caught by the hand and foot.’' &>, this is the
way it caught her. Now let me go! But Mwakatsoo
turned to the man and said, “ You were a great fool to ma
such a promise. Now be off, you and your wife . 1 hc>

did not wait to be told so twice, but hastened Home, while
the lion called on Mwakatsoo to release him, and received tor
answer ■ 11 l ahull do no such thing. You arc the enemy h
A Gimmastory-te^fcr remarks (but this was on admereot
occasion, when the hare had bt.cn supplying the lion with

meat ): * i t* ■ 1

H So the Little Hare was on good term® with his neigh¬
bours and was a nice person in the Lion’s opinion* and m
the opinion of his neighbours also was he a nice person

* So the bare ii familiifly by ihc Wapafcrjmn.

■ The RhodctEan km morn infieniou*. Firtl he usd ht .

ffk tW W£J * aying far d* wind, *n d they bid belief ill

I be «H»n be] tig rdecucd far she PiMpa^ 'I’hcn he culled out ihit

■bous to fill in, ^ad they mint hold ttp the roof. AH four bcinjf ** >

xpx oHTlhc i»*n jDd hil Wtfc 10 get bv* far popping ii: h* Add the l-»i « ol
bold it up fill iheijr retard Htt CPupfc, of cf>nr^ p tutik ti* 1-«"* inrt* fetr
Cicw. The h*T+ ns mf, and the lbu p in Imi EhT I he reck thouW l-N - ™
on lupportisg ii till he wm tired, and then a desperate trjp ca ! ^ ^ - e

.if Ihc cave, hit h» head lyiliwt. a rock, and crawled away half ITU lined.

(hit dtf ElOIU ban hunted lh*ir nwn pame."

■ Taylor, Ci>7amd /VhWctpji p- < i?-

27O

A Rock at Esidumbini, Natal

BRER RABBIT IN AFRICA
The Hare’s End

And now for Sungurci's sad end, which was due not to
force or fraud of an enemy, but to a friend s misplaced
sense of humour.

He went one day to call oji hi5- friend the cock, and found
him asleep, with his head under his wing. The hare had
never seen him in this position before, and never thought
of doubting the hens’ word when they informed him (as
previously instructed) that their husband was in the habit
of taking off his head and giving it to the herd-boys to
carry with them to the pasture. “ Since you were born
have you ever seen a man have his head cur off and for it to
go to pasture, while the man himself stayed at home in the
village? ” And the hare said, *' Never I But when those
herd-bo vs come, will he get up again ?" And those women
said, “just wait and see ! " At last, when the herd-boys
arrived, their mother said, 41 Just rouse your father there
where he is sleeping.” The cock, when aroused, welcomed
his guest, and they sat talking till dinner was ready, and
still conversed during the meal. The hare was anxious
to know “ how it was done," and the cock told him it was
quite easy—" if you think you would like to do it. I he
hare confidently accepted the explanation, and they parted,
having agreed that the cock should return the visit next day.

He was so greatly excited that he began to talk of his
wonderful experience as soon as he reached h is home. 1 hat
person the fowl is a clever fellow; he has just shown me
his clever device of cutting off the head till, on your being
hit, you sco, you become alive again. WdF, to-morrow t
intend to show you all this device 1 , .y., ,

Next morning he told his boys what to * v

hesitated, but he insisted, and when they were ready to go
out with the cattle they cut off his head, bored the care, and
put a string through them, co carry it more conveniently.
The women picked up the body and laid it on the bed,
trusting, in spite of appearances, to his assurance that he

^Byand by his friend arrived, and, not seeing him, inquired

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

for him ; the women showed him the body lying on the bed.
He was struck, with consternation! and, let us hope, with
remorse. “ But my friend is a simpleton indeed ! 11 They
said, 11 Is not this device derived from you ? " but he turned
a deaf ear to this hint, and only insisted that the hare was
a simpleton, He thought, however, he would wait and
see whether, alter all, he~did get up. The boys came home
when the sun declined ; they struck their father, as he had
told them, 11 but he did not get up. And the children burst
out crying. And the mothers of the family cried. And
folks sat a-mourning. And all the people that heard ot it
were amazed at his death: ‘Such a clover man I And
for him to have met with Ids death through such a trilling
thing I *" 1

That was 1 Harey's' epitaph.

* Tnyluri Ftfdbulary t p r 13 J-

CHAPTER XVIII: LEGENDS OF THE
TORTOISE

N EXT to the hare the tortoise is the most conspicu¬
ous figure in Bantu folklore. In some parts, indeed,
he is more so: of the sixty-one stories collected by
Dr Nassau in the Corisco Bay district twenty have the
tortoise as the principal character. There seem to be no
hares in this part of the country; the animal who most
frequently measures his strength and his wits against the
tortoise is the leopard, and he is invariably defeated, though
on one occasion his son avenges his death by killing the

The African tortoise in the tales is usually of the land
variety, though in one of the Benga stories 1 he is repre¬
sented as taking to the water with his family, to escape t e
vengeance of the leopard. In Angola they tell ot a m
who found a turtle (mbasht) and tried to drown him, as
Brer Fox did “ ole man Tarrypin, with the same result.
The American terrapin is distinctly a water-tortoise, or
turtle : there are various kinds of these in the African rivers
and swamps, but, as might be expected from the immense
extent of desert and forest country, the land ones are the
commoner.

Unde Remus’s “ Brer Tarrypin ” „ ,

“ Brer Tarrypin ” figures in six of the earlier Unc e
Remus ” stories;* one of these has already been men-
tioned • of the others the best are the Tug of W ar (the
‘ hare ’’version of which was given in the last cha P ter ) a '^
the famous race with Brer Rabbit, which he won, not (as
in the later, moralized fable) through his own persevemnce
and the other’s careless self-confidence, but by planting o
his relatives at intervals all along the track. . ,

In the later collection 4 we have him tricking the buzzard

. Nassau, Where Animals Talk, p. .58 = " The Deceptions ofTorto.se”

« Chatelain, Folk-tales of Angola, p. 153. d xxx

» The stories referred to are Nos. X, XII, XIY, XV Ill, a
4 Nights with Uncle Remus, Nos. XIV, XV, and XL\ I. ^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

into getting burned to death, and then making the quills of
his wing-feathers into a musical instrument, which is stolen
from him by Brer Fox and recovered with difficulty. This
recalls Hlakanyana killing a hare (not the hare !) and making
a whistle out of one of his bones, which the iguana subse¬
quently steals from him, and the Ronga hare, with his pipes
made from the little horns of the gazelle he has treacherously
done to death. Out of seventy stories in this book eleven
introduce Brer Tarrypin; the only one that need be
noticed just now is where he rescues Brer Rabbit from the
ungrateful wolf. Mr Wolf had got pinned under a falling
rock; Brer Rabbit, passing by, raised up the rock enough
to release him, whereupon he found himself caught, and
was about to be eaten when he suggests that they might
“ leave the whole case with Brer Tarrypin.” His decision
is the same as that of the hare against the crocodile in the
Yao story, and Brer Rabbit escapes.

Character of the Tortoise

This, like some African examples one has met with,
shows the tortoise in a kindly light; but in general he
appears to be less lovable than, with all his wicked, tricks,
we cannot help feeling the hare to be. The tortoise is slow,
patient, vindictive, and, sometimes, cruel in his revenge;
but he never shows the inveterate and occasionally motive¬
less malignancy of the West African spider, the hero of the
Anansi tales.

It is easy to see why the tortoise should get a reputation
for uncanny wisdom. There is something mysterious about
him. As Major Leonard says : 1

Absolutely harmless and inoffensive in himself, the tortoise
does not prey on even the smallest of insects, but subsists entirely
on the fallen fruits of the forest. In the gloomy forests of the
Niger Delta there are only two enemies capable of doing him any
serious harm. The one is man, who is able to lift him up and
carry him bodily away, which, however, he does not do, unless
the creature is required in connection with certain religious

1 The Lower Niger and its Tribes , pp. 314 and 315 (here somewhat condensed).

274

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

ceremonies. His other and most dangerous enemy is the pytlion,
vrliu, hiving first crushed him, swallow; him alive, shell and all.
fiur pythons targe enough to do this, unless the tortoise happens to
be young and smalt, ate very scarce. Thus die tortoise has been
practically immune from attack—a Tact that in a great measure
explains his longevity. {His reputation has been enhanced by]
the fact that he can exist longer without food than perhaps any
other animat. ... In process "f time, the word which stood for
■ tortoise ’ became a synonym for Cunning and cruft, nrtd a man
of exceptional intelligence was in this way known among the I bo
as Afbui and among the lbani as Eiakt, 1 meaning a tortoise.
Although slow, he was sure, and this sure ness, in the native mind,
implied dogged ness and a fixed dc terminal ion, while silence and
secrecy implied mystery and a veiled purpose, behind winch it is
impossible to get.

The Race won by the Tortoise

The "Race 11 scory \s known in Africa to the kaniba,
Km.de,* Lamba, IU, Dmda, BflkwiH,* and, 1 believe, to
many others. 1 have come across only two in which the
one challenged is the hare, and one ol these (the Ha) is
curiously mixed up with the story of the Animals and the
Welt. The race is run by all the animats to the river, to
get water in time of drought, and the youngest tortoise,
who has been buried close to the bank, brings them a
supply as they lie exhausted. In most cases i ns an antelope
who runs and loses—the duiker, the harnessed antelope,
or some other kind—but the Kamba make the torroisc
and the fish-eagle the competitors, and the Bondci the tor¬
toise and the falcon; this last tortoise, strangely enough
turns into a fine young man. 1 And, finally, in Kondeland

: —w- - * * ** i***

the owhcroeml ^ Like My*“- *■*"»>! ,, -. Jr

■ feineii ihr Wuri Ifld S>n**l riven. .» lb* tinman*- Th** «j^«i

r •’.’£££ £££:•.... «*.... i» u. ***

u. the oro «. XXM r t fit l]lf han-l «f it. eh^t >
another rrrvmn, in irhirli the tOTW* 1 yew* man. ^^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU
the match is between the tortoise and the elephant. 1 1 his

* The^tortoise one day met the elephant, :md said, “Do
y Pll think you are the greatest of all the beasts? I he

conversation continued; ^ n

“ Haven't you seen me, then? _ ^

" Hid you, ever see vour own head? ’

"What of that?”

" Why, if I were to jump i could jump over iti
** What, you? "

“ Yes, 11 "

“ Well, try it, then 1 " . „

Not to-day. I’m tired. I have come a long way.

The elephant thought this was a mere excuse, and told
the tortoise he was a liar; but it was agreed that the tml
should take place next day. The tortoise hastened away,
fetched his wife, and hid her in the bushes close to the spot

thev had fixed on. ,

With daybreak the elephant arrived, and found the
tortoise already there. He got the elephant to stand tn i he
middle of a clear space, and then took up his position on
one side of him, opposite to the point where his wile w-as
hidden in the grass. The elephant said, 1 Jump away,
Tortoise I " The tortoise cried, “ Hi-i / ” took off for t he
high jump* and crept into the ptassj while his wife, on t c
other side, cried “ Ehe >" The elephant looked and found
i he tortoise (as he thought) on the farther side, ihough he
had not seen the actual leap. “ Jf>koI 1 Try it again, for
I couldn’t sec you doing it l “ Ihts time the wife cried,
“Hi-i! " and the tortoise “Ehe! " and the elephant sus¬
pected nothing, thinking that the leap had been too swift
for his eye to catch, and acknowledged himself beaten, but
was sure that he would be the better in a foot-race. Fhe
tortoise was willing to try, “ but not to-day, for my legs are
tired with the jumping. But could you come to-morrow.
The elephant agreed, and the same place was fixed for

276

I Schumann, Cntmlrisi iiiuF Crammati} tier KtmJksprm&t*, p.
* An exdiiJHuioacRprt ^i'^ "i auip™.

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

the starting-point of the course—the race to begin at

sunrise. . ,

The tortoise went home, called his children together, and
spent the night in collecting the rest of the clan, station¬
ing them at convenient intervals along the course and

instructing them what to do. .

The elephant appeared punctually in the morning, and
after greetings started off at a trot —ndi ! ndi ! ndi ! 1 W hen
he had been running for some time he called out, 1 ortoise!
thinking he must have left him far behind, but, to his con¬
sternation, he heard a voice in front of him : 2 uba . V hy,

I’m here! ” This happened again and again, till he reached
the goal and found the original tortoise awaiting him there.
“ And so it befell that the elephant was defeated. (1 he
original expresses this in three words.) The Benga wind up
the story by saying, “ So the council decided that, of al
the tribes of animals Tortoise was to be held as greatest;
for that it had outrun Antelope. And the animals gave
Tortoise the power to rule.”

The Baboon invites the Tortoise to dine ....

Another favourite story is that of the friendship between
the tortoise and the baboon, which ended (as in the case of
/Esop’s fox and crane) in consequence of their mutual invi¬
tations to dinner. The baboon, having brewed his millet-
beer (moa, pombe, or utshwala ), placed the pots up in a tree,
and the tortoise, being, of course, unable to climb up, while
his host offered no other accommodation, had to return
home hungry and thirsty. The tortoise paid his friend out
by inviting him at the end of the dry season (the time of the
grass-fires) and preparing his feast on a spot wh.chcould be
reached only by crossing a patch of burnt ground. When the
baboon arrived he was politely requested to wash his hands.
As he had to cross the burnt grass again to reach the stream
in order to do so he came back with them as black as ever.

. _r t u e famous 'descriptive adverbs,* or ‘onomatopoeias, which

abound'in'the Bantu languages. Cf. ********* hone eaU ° pm6 ’*“*

» Baboons, of course, do not as a rule walk upnght. ^

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

This went on so long—for the tortoise would not let him
sit down till his hands were clean—that he was tired out, and
went home in disgust.

The Tortoise and the Monitor

Still more spitefully vindictive is the character given to
the tortoise in the Nyanja story which associates him with
the ng'anzi, a large lizard, probably a species of Varanus
(monitor). It opens, like many other tales of this kind,
with the statement that these two “ made friendship,” by
which we are to understand that they went through the
ceremonies of the blood-covenant, binding themselves to
help each other whenever called upon. One day the tortoise
was in need of salt—well known to be a very precious com¬
modity in certain parts of Africa—and set out to beg some
from his friend. Having reached the ng anzi's abode and
got his salt, he next asked to have it tied up with string in
a piece of bark-cloth. (Such bundles, each a man’s load,
used to be brought in to Blantyre by people who had been
making salt on the shores of Lake Chilwa.) He passed the
string over his shoulder, so that the parcel hung under his
other arm, and started for home, dragging the salt after
him —gubudu gubudu I 1 The ng’anzi came up behind him
and seized the salt; the tortoise, pulled up short, njutu
njutu ! turned back to see what had caught his load. He
found that the ng'anzi had seized the bundle of salt in the
middle, and said to him, “ Don’t seize my salt. I have just
brought it from my friend’s house.” The ng anzi replied,
“ I’ve just picked it up in the path.” “ But you can see the
string passing round my neck as we tied it. I, the tortoise,
am the owner.” But the ng'anzi insisted that he had found
the parcel, and, as the tortoise would not give in, said, “ Let
us go to the smithy [this being the local gossip-shop or men’s
club of the village , that the elders may decide our case.
The tortoise agreed, and they went to the smithy, where

1 Intended to express the bumping of the parcel along the path as the tortoise
makes his slow progress. When he is pulled up, njutu njutu 1 expresses the sudden
stop which almost jerks him off his feet.

278

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

they found eight old men. The ng'anzi opened the case in
proper form : “ I have a suit against the tortoise.” The
elders said, “ What is your suit with which you have come
hither to us ? ” He stated his case, and they asked, “ How
did you pick up the tortoise’s salt? ” The tortoise replied,
“ Because I am short as to the legs I tied the salt round my
neck, and it went bumping along, and then the ng'anzi took
hold of it, and I turned back to see what had caught it, and
there was my friend the ng'anzi , and he said, ‘ Let us go to
the smithy,’ and therefore we have come here.” The elders
suggested that they should compromise the case by cutting
the bag of salt in two. The tortoise consented, though un¬
willingly, seeing that he had no chance, since the judges
were all relatives of the ng’anzi , as he perceived too late.
“ Perhaps I have been wrong in taking to the road alone,”
was his reflection on finding that he had fallen among thieves.
The bag was cut, and, of course, a great deal of salt fell out
on the ground. The tortoise gathered up what he could,
but it was only a little, “ because his fingers were so short,”
and he failed to tie it up satisfactorily in the piece of bark-
cloth left to him. The ng'anzi , on the contrary, had his full
half, and the elders scraped up what had been spilt, earth
and all. So the tortoise went away, crying, “ because my
salt is spoilt,” and reached his home with one or two tiny
screws done up in leaves. His wife asked him what had
become of the salt, and he told her the whole story, adding
that he would go again to his friend and get a fresh supply.
He rested four days, and then started once more.

On reaching the ng’anzi's burrow he found that the owner
had entered it and was enjoying a meal of lumwe (the winged
males of the termites, which are about an inch long and
accounted a great delicacy). The tortoise came walking
very softly, nyang' anyang'a , looked carefully about him,
spied the ng'anzi, crept up to him without being seen, and
seized him by the middle of his body. Thereupon he cried
out, “ Who has seized me by the waist? As for me, I am
just eating white ants.” The tortoise replied, I have
picked up. Yes, I have picked up. The other day you

myths and legends of the ban I u

picked up mf wit, and to-day I have picked yen, up l f Well
let vis go to the smithy, as we did the other day. lhc
nfoMZi said, " Do you insist? 1 ' lhc tortoise answered,
ti Yes.” So they came out of the burrow and went to the
smithy, where they found nine old men. Having heard the
Lase stated, these elders said, “ Ton should do what you did
the other dav : you cut the salt in two. The tortoise cried
in triumph; "ttt/ hat ha l ha \ it is good so, and
rejoiced with his whole heart; but the ng a»zt *««l, Are
you absolutely resolved on killing me? Tou formerly
destroyed my salt, and I, for my part, am going to do the
same to you I ” " Ha 1 This is the end of me 1 To want
to cut me in half 1 . . . Well, do what you want to do. It s
all over with me, the wfamd 1 " The tortoise leapt up, nr/
and took a knife and cut the ng'anzi through the middle, and
he cried, “ Mother! Mother l I am dead to-day through
picking up I " and died.

The tortoise took the tail ami two kgs and went on his
way, W when he: catne to his wife's house he ssul, 4L We
have settled the score : the ngatizi ate that salt of mine, and
to-day I have paid him back in Ids own coin, and he is dead.

Perhaps he deserved it; but the tortoise reminds one oi
Shylock m his determination to get his pound of flesh.

This story may seem to have been related at unnecessary
length (though in the original the speeches are repeated
verbatim, over and over again); but it makes such a quaint
picture of African life as it is, or was not SO very long ago
in Nyasa land, that the temptation to paraphrase it was
irresistible : the journey for the salt, the covenant of friend¬
ship (in this instance basely betrayed), the old men talking
over the case at the village blacksmith's forge.

The Name of the Tree

There is a very curious story, found in places as far apart
as Corisco Hay in the north and Transvaal in the south, in
which the tortoise, as a rule, plays the principal part, though
this is sometimes given to the hare. It may have a mytho-

) From i m.muiiirip; liken down by me tc Blantyit in iiQj-

3,80

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

logical background now partly or completely forgotten : this
is suggested by the fact that God (Leza, Mawcza) is intro¬
duced in some versions as the owner of the mysterious
tree.

On occasions it opens with the statement that there was
a famine in the land- The animals, searching for food (or
sometimes accidentally, while hunting), come across a tree
previously unknown to them, full of ripe and tempting fruit,
They send messenger after messenger to the tree's owner,
in order to ask its name, or sometimes, simply, " what sort
of a tree it is, that we may know whether the fruit can be
eaten or not." But the exact name is so often insisted on
that it -would seem to have some magical significance- The
“ owner of the tree " is in two cases (Subiva, Bena Kanioka ’)
said to be ‘Cod'; the Bapcdi and Raila speak of " an old
woman "; the Kasuto say, *’ The owner of the tree is called
Koko.” As this word means 1 grandmother/ it would seem
as if the old woman were the tri balance stress- Other versions
du not specify the owner more particularly, or call him, or
her, simply *' the chief,'’

The messengers (in some Instances a whole scries is
enumerated; in others, after the first, only all the rest of
the animats ” are mentioned) invariably forget the name on
the way back. At last an insignificant and despised member
of the community—usually the tortoise, but sometimes the
hare, and in one case the gazelle—is successful. Here the
story should end, and does so in, I think, the best versions,
with the triumph of the tortoise. But in some the animals
turn on their benefactor and refuse him a share in the fruit.
The Bapedi make him revenge himself by a trick which
properly belongs to the hare, and several subsequent in¬
cidents are identical with those in a Kong* hare story, in
which that of the tree follows on one of an entirely different
character. This, like the Suto and Pedi versions of our
tortoise Story, makes it an essential point that the fruit on
the topmost branch is not to be touched, but left for the
chief- The Ronga hare gets at the fruit and cats it out ot
t On the Upper Sinikuni, in llw ifeljpan Cooffc

lfl I

MYTHS and legends of the bantu

mere mischief (aftcrwArdsj>u«mgth(:blame on the elephant);

the tortoise to revenge himself Tor ill-usage*

Here follows the Umba tale : 1

In a time of famine all the animals gathered near a tree
full of wonderful fruit, which could not he
the right name of the tree was mentioned, and M/LitSe
lulls there. When the fruit ripened Wakalulu ( Mr Lit le
Hare "j went to the chief of the tree and asked hmtitsnine
The chief answered, " When you arnve just stand Still and
sav Uti>unrela»*" The hare started on his way back, but
when he had reached the outskirts of his village he tripped,
and the name wen c out of his head, I ryi ng to recov c r \,
kept saying to himself, "Ufong'tejt™* Uwuntuluntumlnh

^*Vhen he arrived the animals asked, " W hat is the name.
Little Hare of these things ? ” But he could only stammer
^ wrong words, and not a fruit fell. Next morning two
arose and tiled their luck-k seems to have been
considered safer to send two—but on their return bo^h
tripped and forgot the word. In answer to their eagtr
goners they said, " He said, Wtomk U **?T
luMumh* or what?"— which, of course, could not help

Then two elands were sent, with the same result.

Then the lion went, anti, though he took care to repea
the word over and over again oil the way tome, he too
tripped against the obstacle and forgot it. I hen cli che
animals, The roans and the sables, and the mongoose*, all
came to an end going there, 1 hey all just returnct

vain*

: £?££: E5n&‘i—■£-£"*; ffS

an im-hill in tl* pith. The ftrngl njlkl ih^ go « (bc m ^

ami forget the »IK <hr «x,.-s b u^t. (A!-- •* “ " T”

tiax k, ?« or drink while on the walrr f Add 11 careful ^ J K ,' a i,

I ubk iiory tber foc^t the turr< if ihey litofe back s -icid wuh ibc ha
M™-cia (Hvc. fhr umoiv i link bell, whkh him utitu piitic hy nop"*-

* It mfv be w>nh noting thi: ibe two kind, of MtelnpjmwW
qrigina] the hooorrtc pn-fl* Wa, J be munROOM {«?•*'> “*

COniidcred too irUMffEullcnnli

28a

' I |K rOKTUMF HAS1 ^ SMOKX
I'ki J l.*t ■ inm.nl 31. j > i.i

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

Then the tortoise went to the chief suit! asked for the
name. He had it repeated more than once, to make sure,
anti then set out on his slow and cautious journey.

He travelled u grem ditrance and rhen said, " U&iwgilftna.
Again he cached the outskirts of the village, again he
“Utwneslfma." Then lie arrived in tile village and readied his
house and had a smoke. When he hid finished smoking, the
people arrived and said. “ Whir is it, To«oi» ?" Mr l ortoiM
went our and said. “WumpltMt” The frn it pelted duwn.
The oeople iust covered the place, all rhe animals ptefttng up.
They^it down again: in the rooming they said, 1 “ Go to Mr
Tortoise.” And Mr Tortoise Came out and said, UuntngefmaJ
4oain numberless fruits pelted down. Then they began praising
Mr Tortoise, saying* 11 MrTorroise is chief. Iwcausc lie knows the
nunc of these fruits/'

This happened again and again, till the fruit came to
an end. and the animals dispersed, to seek subsistence else-

Wh s/in the benga country the grateful beasts proclaimed
Kudu, the tortoise, as their second chief,

Mbamft, having been their sole ruler hitherto. * e shall
Have two kings, Kudu and Mbama, each at his end of the
country. For the one, with his wisdom, told what was tit
S3S3L, wd .he other, svith hi. skill, brought the news."

This has an entirely different ope mug. ^
discussing who was to be their chief, decided to settle the
point by feeing who could throw a lump of earth across the
river One after another tried, but then missiles all fell
short, till it came to the turn of the little' gazelle {Ma/u «)»

ootwith hunting,

myths and legends of the bantu

came across a tree bearing large fruits, of which they did
not know the name. They sent the elephant to Mvuh
Mjtkufo, the High God, who told him it was Mftmpmja-
but he must never look behind him on the waj
back t>r he would be sure to forget it. He did look behind
K, and had to confess hi. allure, at which ttatuun*
were greatly annoyed, and told him he was no goo . (

thr^ original tuH <li»m which F. Do Clercq translates:

" Ttt es an hummt meprisablei ”)

Then the buffalo was sent, but did no better; then all
the other animals, except the gasclle, and they abofailed
The gazelle kept her instructions m mind, never looked
back, and returned successfully with the name. lC
ovation with which they received her is described by savi%
that ” they all stood up, and the ga/.clle skipped about
on their backs ”—one supposes that they carried her in
triumph.

Some Further Variations ..... , .

The Bena Kanioka version, while beginning m much me
same wav, ends very differently. After the various animals
have failed in their quest the tortoise conies to Maweza,
who tells him the name of the tree and gives him a little
beJL saying, “ If you forget the name the bell will put you
in mind of it,’* (It is not said why none of the other
animals had been thus favoured.) The tortoise did, in iact,
forget the name on the way, but the bell, ringing in his ear*
recalled it to him. He reached the tree in safety, and mid
the name to the animals, who joyfully climbed the tree and
are the fruit, but refused to give him a share of it. When
they had eaten their fill they killed him. But the little ants
took his body away, and sang :

11 Krifid The ^and imd mould she clay
Till he comes wLlujjj C?e*d hjj made-"

It is not explained who this person is or how he appeared,
but the ants handed over the dead tortoise to him, and he
restored him to life. The animals killed him again, smash-

284

■

A Zulu playing upon the Umqangala

M A. u. Duuan-Cron.n. By ffrmiuion a/,* M<G"** Muuum. K.mUrUy

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

ing his shell to pieces; 1 the ants put the pieces together,
and he again revived. As soon as he had regained his
strength he uprooted the tree, with ail the animals in its
branches, and they perished in its fall.

The Pedi version, which is, I think, mixed with a hare
Story, contains one or two points not found elsewhere: the
old woman, when telling the name (which, by the bv, has
not been asked fori they only say, " May we eat of this
tree?”), adds, '* You may eat, but leave the great branch
of the chiefs kraal alone f ” (Elsewhore one gathers that
this is the topmost branch ol the tree.) 1 he tortoise,
deprived of his share in the fruit and shut up in a hut (a
variant says buried by order ot the chief), gets out during
the night and ears all the fruit oit the forbidden bough.
Before returning to his prison he disposes the kernels about
the body of the sleeping elephant. This and the sequel,
with which we need not concern oursclvew, do not, as
already pointed out, belong to the tortoise.

Another incidental touch is that the tortoise—no doubt
as an aid to memory—kept playing on his ttmqxngafo while
crooning over his message to himself-strangely enough, i
he is correctly reported, not the old woman s words, but
the following song:

H They say ihey bumped

OnikewiylMck.

There is an vhork in the way.

The nature of the obstacle is not specified, but what
appears to be the same story (told to jacottct by a girl at
Moriit") mention* ■" ant-hill- In thre story the W .s said
to be the chief of the animals who sends the messengers to
Koko and then goes himself. Angered that so insignifi¬
cant a creature as the tortoise should have succeeded where
he failed he has a pit dug, anti orders the tortoise to be

i A pcrniof numerous *«rk, which F*** «F^ the ibnu^

rf .'r“£$£££ N»* cf Ihc

4 Tnnivut filth*, I>ul ihi* appean U> be very impeded . a g£

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

buried in it. The tortoise burrows his way out in the night,
eats the fruit on the top branch, and returns to the hole.
The animals* of course, when questioned, deny all know¬
ledge of the theft. The tortoise is then dug up, and asks,
* l How could I have eaten the fruit when you had buried
me so well ? *'

This ends the story.

The name of the fruit is in every case different; usually
it seems to be a nonsense-word (or perhaps an old for¬
gotten one), of which no one knows the meaning. But in
Pedi it is Matlatk&anti which the aged guardian of the tree
explains to mean: “lie will come presently. It is not
stated who will couic—perhaps the successful messenger.

In some stories in which children escape from an ogre
it is the tortoise who saves them by swallowing and after¬
wards producing them uninjured. The Ronga version 1 of
this tale, however, makes the deliverer a frog.

How the Leopard got his Spots

Another incident showing the tortoise in a kindly aspect
comes from the Tumbuka, 1 in Northern Nyasaland. The
hyena, for no apparent reason beyond ingrained ill-nature,
put the tortoise up into the fork of a tree, where he could
not get down. A leopard passed by and saw him: Do
you also climb trees, Tortoise ? ” *' The hyena is die

person who put me there, and now I can't get down if l
try.” The leopard remarked, “ Hyena is a bad lot, and
took the tortoise out of the tree.

We am not told what the leopard looked like at this time,
but he would seem to have been 1 self-coloured, lor the
tortoise, offering out of gratitude for his rescue to fliakc
him beautiful, 11 did so by painting him with spots, saying*
as he worked, Where your neighbour is all right, be you
also all right [rnkfora]" The leopard, when he went off,
met a zebra* who admired him so much that he wanted to
know 11 who had made him beautiful/* and himself went to

■ M L'HtimiiB-ia-Grind'Coaltlu +h t pcc p-tai.

* CiiUtn Young, TMMbiiJta-Kim^a /VapAr, p. ss?

286

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

the tortoise. In this way he got his stripes. This*' Ju»t-ao "
story accounts not only for the markings of the leopard and
the zebra, but for their being creatures uf the wild, for when
the people, hoeing their gardens, saw them they exclaimed,
“ Oh, the big beauty ! Catch it and let us domesticate it I
or words to that effect, so both of them lied into the bush,
where: they have remained ever since. The hyena too met
with his deserts, as follows.

« The zebra met a hyena, who asked, 1 Who beautified
you? ' He said, ’ It was the tortoise. 1 So the hyena said,
? Let him beautify me too,’ and went away to the tortoise
with the words, ‘ Make me beautiful 1 ’ ' Come, said the

tortoise, and began [the work], saying, ’ Where your
neighbour is a bad lot [uhtne], be you too a bad Jot I anti
then said, ‘ Go to the place where the people are hoeing.
But at the sight ' That’s an evil thing t said they. Kill I
kill ] kill l 1 And the hyena turned till and sled, dashing
into the bushes, kweche! and saying, ' 1 will smash him
to-day where I find the little beast! Previously I only
stuck him up in a tree-fork.' And he burst out upon the
spot, but found no sign of the tortoise, who had gone down

a holt IT

A The old man who told the story added this moral for the
benefit of the young: " So nowadays they laugh at a hyena
in the villages. You see that one evil follows upon another.

The Great Tortoise of the Zulus

The Zulus have a rather vague tradition about a Great
Tortoise (Ufudu otukuh\ who has nothing to do with our
friend of the adventures related above, but seems to be a
mythical bdng. poyibly akin to ££-»

ofMn'i&nt African native who had served aa a firr ™"
on British ships in many waters. Somewhere betucen
Australia and New Zealand the steamer s ^chor-cha n ™
seized by a giant octopus (pwza : The pwtza is an cvU

' MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

person,” 1 say the Swahili). The body of the creature was
out of sight, but the tentacle which held the chain waS'—
so Ali declared—the width of the table at which wc were
seated—say, three to four feet. The ship’s company
stabbed the tentacle with a boathook till it let go, and the
p-wcza sank and was seen no more. Otherwise, one was
given to understand, the vessel would have gone down with
all on board.

As to the Great Tortoise, Umpondo Kambule told Bishop
Callaway 1 that it had taken his grandmother as she, with
her three daughters, was crossing the river Umtshezi. It
was *' as big as the skin of an ox "—not merely “ as an ox,”
being equal to the diameter of the spread-out skin. At any
rale, it was big enough to dam up the current: “ the river
tilled, because it had obstructed the water." The three
younger women crossed in safety: the grandmother lost
her Footing, was seized by the tortoise, and dragged into
deep water. Her children —the rest of them hastened to
the spot on the alarm being given-just caught sight of
her as she was raised for a moment above the surface; then
she sank, and was never seen again.

The monster seemingly came out sometimes to sun
itself, and on one occasion was seen by some herd-boys,
who took it for a rock and played about on it, not heeding
the warning of a little brother, who declared that “ this rock
has eyes.” Nothing happened that time, but on another
day the tortoise turned over with the boys who were on it
and drowned them.

The Fatal Magic of the Waters

Jn another aspect this Great Tortoise recalls the European
nixies, who entice people into the depths of rivers and pools.
This is explained by Umpengula Mbanda as follows :

It i; said there i*s ,1 beast in the water which can seize the shadow
of a I turn i when lie looks into the water, it takes his shadow t the

1 Mat {MOitlm) jiraperEy ipeaking nitani a liuman buiBg., bm une rjfu-ti hcATi
inimjk rrfrrrrij lo 33 wim, “ Tbcn in bad peopk in ihc iel" laid MuhamadL
Kijusna of Uttiei, meaning no douhr, fthultt and such,

* i^Mnrrj Taitf y p, yjj.

±fll

A Ltru Charms

ii'. f. r

LEGENDS OF THE TORTOISE

man no longer wishes to turn back, but has a great wish to enter
the pool; it seems to him that there is not death in the water;
it is as if he were going to real happiness 1 where there is no harm;
and he dies through being eaten by the beast, which was not seen
at first, but is seen when it catches hold of him. . . . And people
are forbidden to lean over and look into a dark pool, it being
feared that their shadow should be taken away. 2

This is given by way of comment on a story told by the
bishop’s other informant, about a boy who threw a stone
into a pool (it is not said that he looked at his reflection, but
this must surely be understood), and, on going home, refused
his food and could not be kept from returning to the place.
His father followed him, but was only in time to see the
boy’s head in the middle of the pool, though he did not
actually sink till after sunset. Just as he disappeared he
cried out, “ I am held by the foot.” His father, who had
been forcibly restrained from throwing himself into the pool,
had offered a reward to anyone who should save his son;
but it seems to have been accepted as a fact that nothing
could be done: “ the child is already dead.” And after
he had sunk they said, “ He has been devoured by the

tortoise.” . , , . ,

The rivers of Africa, not to mention lakes and pools,
merit a chapter to themselves, which cannot here be given.
The subject has scarcely been touched : we have only a few
scattered hints from Zulu and Xosa sources. There is
Tikoloshe, 8 or Hili, the water-sprite, who comes out to
make unlawful love to women, and Isitshakamana, who
scares fishermen to death, and when on land hirsels about
in a sitting position (though provided with legs), like

Kitunusi of the Pokomo. ...... , . .

Some of the'stories ( e.g ., that of Tangalimlibo, included

1 Du stiegst hinunter wie du hist,

Und <wUrdest erst gesund !

Gokthe, Der Flicker

4.S2SS5T-W !»,■>» crt “ L ’

Natural History, exclaimed, unexpectedly, Tokolotshe ^

T *

myths and legends of the bantu

in several collections) describe cattle being driven into a
river in the hope of saving the drowning, by inducing the
water-spirits to accept life for life . 1 And it is said that the
Umsunduzi (which rises in the Natal Table Mountain—
Umkambati—near Pietermaritzburg) claims a human life
every year—like the Tweed (the Till takes three and the
Lancashire Ribbk one every seventh year)—unless some
other living creature is sacrificed. But this is to digress too
far from our subject*

1 See Thfillj *f Jfrka, p.

CHAPTER XIX: STORIES OF SOME OTHER
ANIMALS

T HE stories about the more important animals, the
lion* the elephant, the antelopes, and the hyena, usually
introduce the hart: as the principal character; the
rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the python, anti the zebra
are Jess often found in conjunction with him. This chapter
will contain a few in which hu does not figure.

The first is that of '* The Horned Animals and thc
Hyena." A great beer-drinking was arranged, to which
no ani mal s were admitted but those having horns. Every
kind of horned beast assembled at the meeting-place in the
forest, and the feast went on for many days. The hyena
heard of it, and wished to take part, but knew, of course,
that he was disqualified. He did not, however, lose heart,
but wandered about till he came across a dead buck of some
kind. He detached its horns, and then searched for a
deserted bees' nest, where he found a sufficient quantity of
wax to stick the horns on his head. Thereupon he made
his way to the meeting-place, and joined die revellers without
exciting remark.

The feast had gone on all night, and the hyena arrived
In the early morning, so for a time all went well. But as the
sun grew hot the wax began to melt. As he felt die horns
getting loose he held them on with his hands, calling on all
the other animals to do the same: “ Quickly I quickly 1
because some of US have horns which come off 1 The
stupid hyena seems to have thought that some of the others
might be in like case with himself, and that he might escape
detection along with them, but the animals were not to be
taken in \ they saw through the trick (whichj indeed* soon
became impossible to carry on); they cried, He is cheating

U3,” and drove him away in disgrace. 1

Curiously enough, in at least three variants (Ha, Lam&a,
and Nsenga) this exploit is credited to the hare; but it
seems to me to fit the hyena much better. The 11a story,

1 Told in Swahili by C. Vehcn. Mvrchf* *iu/£t :JK

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

however, has one or two additional touches which it is a
pity to lose. The hare was accompanied by the ground
hornbill (any sort of horn was allowed to count), who sat
near the door (this beer-drinking took place under cover),
while the hare imprudently (and quite out of character)
chose a place near the fire. When the wax began to melt
the hornbill indiscreetly (or maliciously?) announced the
fact, but the guests could not hear what he said, and asked
the hare, who answered, “ Hornbill is asking for the sedi¬
ment of the beer.” But he could not keep up the deception
when the hot wax ran down his face, and the story ends as

above. . .

A story from Tete 1 containing a similar incident is not a
parallel: the invitation is issued to “ all creatures wearing
fur or feathers,” and the hare assumes a pair of horns only
as a disguise, the host being his deadly enemy, the lion.

Brother Wolf and the Horned Cattle

Uncle Remus,* I am sure, is much nearer the true
tradition, though, to be precise, the story in question is not
related by him, but by Aunt Tempy. It is too delicious to
be paraphrased in its entirety: some of it, at any rate, must
be given in her own words.

“ Hit come ’bout one time dat all de creeturs what got hawns
tuck a notion dat dey got ter meet terge’er an have a confab ter
see how dey gwine take keer deyself, kaze dem t’er creeturs what
got tush an daw, dey wuz des a-snatchin’ um fum roun’ every
cornder.”

Accordingly, they held a meeting in the woods.

“ Ole Brer Wolf, he tuck’n year ’bout de muster, an he sech
a smarty dat nothin’ aint gwine do but he mus’ go an see what
dey doin’. . . . He went out in de timber an cut ’im two crooked
sticks an tie um on his head an start off ter whar de hawn creeturs
meet at.”

When challenged by Mr Bull he announced himself as

1 Tete is on the Zambezi; the language spoken there is a form of Nyanja.

* NigAts, No. LX 11. This is followed by the incident of the wolf feigning death
and being exposed by Brer Rabbit.

292

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

"little sucking calf/' and, though Bull was somewhat
suspicious, he got in. After a while, forgetting himself, he
snapped at a horse-fly, and Brer Rabbit, hiding in the bushes,
burst out laughing.

** Brer Bull, hr ruck'n holier out. he did:

“ * YVho dat laughin' an shnwia' der manners } ’

»Nobody aim make no answer, an terreckrrly Brer Rabbit

holler out:

* O kittle eaftle, kittle-cattle, wharyo ey«?

Whoever see a Soot Calf iruppin' at

The assembled animals did not know what to make of
this voice from the unseen, and presently another slip on
the part of Mr Wolf caused Brer Rabbit to exclaim:

“ Sciirchum-KTiich uni. lawiy, my law* I
Look it dut Souk Cdi'scretelun* vfid ei»w*3

He gave the unfortunate intruder no rest, and when at
last he Durst out with

" One an one never kin make *ix;

Sticks aim hawiu an hawtuaine sticks "

Brer Wolf turned to flee, and none too soon, for Mr Bull
charged him, and would have “ natallv tore him in two if
he had not “ des scooted away from dar.

The Wart-hog's Wife comes to the Rescue

A Hon story, in which the hare does not figure, u. based
on the same general idea as that of the man whose w.ie was
caught in histrap and claimed as Ms share by the Uon In
this story the case is decided by a different animal, and the
details are so divergent that it seems quite worth wh.le to

l A°Ho^n, C whi!e^unting, got caught by the leg ifnaose
of a spring-trap.' The more he struggled the more t.ghtl),

. JL, lb*F*abtrr,v.„ Tk

» In the L-ficiwJ nriMifliiab. "hifh mew.. P® * _ Jf, lhf j, but rioo|
mcim appeal *0 lx cbJItJ It&tmuifo. 1 T|. iiM , w j J lU oDg, flrfifck pole,
iht pith and i-jm fully U P ’ . "f,' j --d the otter Ira! An

,.f which one end fo pUu«rd firmly >” ■ P^ n ., lighted the coni round

aairnil uvppinff fa ll* W— *

iu foot ^93

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

of course, he was held, and so he remained for some days,
till quite famished and like to die. Then, as it befell, there
passed by* wart-hog—that strangely ugly beast, so grotesque
in his ugliness that he might well be called “ jist bonnie
wV ill-faurcdness.” He was accompanied by his wife and
his numerous family, the children trotting behind him in
single file along the path. As they were searching for food
they came upon the trap, and saw the lion fast in it, a mere
bag of bones. lie called out, “ My dear Mr Wart-hog
[illW €bame ifttingidi], loose me, your friend ! I’m in
trouble 1 I'm dying!" The good-natured wart-hog loosened
the rope and freed the lion, saying, " All right. Let us be
off 1 11 As they were going away the lion happened to turn
round, and, catching sight of the procession of little pigs,
said, “ Friend Wart-hog, what a crowd of children are yours I
Do give me one of your children to eat I Sec how thin I have
got with hunger I ” The wart-hog answered, “ Would you
eat a child of mine? And it was 1 who loosed you to save
you ! ” The lion still insisted, but now the wart-hog’s wife
interposed, saying—while at the same time conveying some
private hint to her husband—" Listen, husband. We have
loosed a wild beast on us, and he is demanding one of our
children. There is nothing for it but to give way.” So they
ostensibly gave way (literally, “ were weak towards him ”},
and promised that he should have one when they arrived
” where we are going.” But *' first let us return CO that
thing that caught you and see what it is like.” The lion
agreed, and they went back to the trap. They asked, " How
did it catch you? Where was it? " and the lion answered,
" It was like this. Just take hold of it and bend it down.”
The couple did so, and, holding the end of the pole close
to the ground, asked, ” But how did it catch you in this
way, sir? " The lion, xs always, absurdly confiding, put Jus
foot in, the wart-hogs let go, and he was caught once more.
The family scattered in all directions, the lion piteously
calling after them, 11 O my dear Wart-hog, are you going?
Won’t you undo me ? ” The parents hardened their hearts,
and called back, ” No I We, your friends, loosed you, and
*94

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

then you begged a child of us I You are a beast ; stay where
you are, and free yourself as beat you can I ”

So he had to stay there in torment till he died. And con¬
sequently there is enmity between lions and wart-hogs to
thin day. 41 If they meet/’ says the narrator, “Mr I.ion at
once eats Mr Wart-hog." Yet one fancies in such a case
the latter would be quite able to give a good account of
himself.

The Wart-hog and the Elephant

The Baila make out a relationship between the wart-hog
and the elephant, grounding it on the fact that both have
tusks which are white (though differing in size) and ‘‘ hair
which is alike ”—a less obvious resemblance. But origin¬
ally, it would seem, the wart-hqg had the large tusks and
the elephant the small ones. The two were supposed to
be uncle and nephew, and at one time had a serious quarrel,
because, as the wart-hog said to his relative, " One day you
said you would destroy things for me "—to supply him
with food, no doubt—“ but you broke your word. How¬
ever, they made it up, the elephant's real motive being his
desire to get hold of the wart-hog's tusks. He began
hy admiring them, and then proposed that they should
exchange for a short time, so that he could show himscJt
creditably turned out at a dance.* He promised to return
them on a certain day; but that day came and passed, and
the wart-hog waited in vain. At last he went to look for
the elephant, and demanded his tusks, only to be told that
the exchange was a permanent one, and not a temporary
loan. Finding his expostulations all m vain, he said,
“ From to-day"I am going to sleep in a burrow; as for you,
you shall travel about the whole day and go far; we shall
hot be friends again, because you have deceived •«**
He then went to consult the ant-bear, fading so unclothed
and disreputable without his great tusks that there was
nothing for it but to take refuge underground- 1 he ant-bear

i Tib i. not rtp«ulv *»»1 in the -nt (Smith nip*, Tif

myths and legends of the bantu

received him hospitably, and therefore, to this day, “Ant-
bear’s custom is to dig burrows, and Wart-hog enters one
and sleeps. When he has had enough of one he looks out
for another. On his arrival he enters the burrow dug by

The exchange of tusks in this Just-so story recalls one
told by the Swahili to account for the fact that the snake has
no legs and the millepede (popularly supposed to be blind)
an excessive number. The snake borrowed the mule-
pede’s eyes, so that he could look on at a wedding dance,
and lent his legs in return; but he afterwards refused to
restore the eyes to their owner, and has kept them ever since.

The Varan us in the Tree

The monitor lizard 1 has already been met with in a
tortoise story, but also occurs in other connexions——for
instance, in the story of Hlakanyana, whose whistle is
borrowed—and kept—by an uxamu* and also in a good
many tales from Nyasaland. _ ,

One of these is very curious, and seems to be widely
distributed. I follow, in the main, a Swahili version, con¬
tributed by Mateo Vundala bin Tendwa to Mum bo Leo 3
for January 1927. I have seen at least two others in manu¬
script (Nyanja), and Mr Cullen Young gives a Tumbuka
one in the work from which I have already quoted. 4

Once upon a time there was a man who had a beautiful
daughter and looked after her very carefully* One day
there arrived a young man who wanted to marry her; her
father did not refuse, but told him to wait five days
and come back on the sixth. When he returned at the
appointed time he was told: M Go away and come again
to-morrow.”

1 Nyanja tig* Tumbuka ka&a&a, Swahili ktnge, Zulu uxamu, I am not
certain whether the Nyanja gwdwa is the same or another species.

* See ante, p. 164. t ,

3 The Swahili monthly, published at Dar-es-Salaam. It is unfortunate toa
the writer gives no indication as to the part of Tanganyika Territory where t e
story was obtained. It b entitled 41 The Story of a Man and a Youth and a
Ktngtr

1 Tumbuka-Kamunga Peoples, p. 217.

296

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

Next morning the girl went to the well 1 with her water-
jar as usual, and when she got there saw a kettge drinking.
As soon as it saw her it darted off and ran up a tree. She
stood gazing at it for some time, never having seen such a
creature before, and then filled her jar and hastened home,
calling out to her father on arriving, “ Father, I’ve seen a
beast with a long tail which ran away up a tree! He
answered, " Let us go, so that I can look at it. T ey
went together, and he recognized it at once, but it had gone
up to the topmost branches, where no human climber could
reach it. The father reflected for a while, and then made
up his mind that when the young wooer came back he would
say to him, “ If you want to marry my daughter you must
go and catch that kettge on the top of the tree.”

It is not stated why he wanted it caught, but it seems,
from other sources, that it is considered good eatmg—at
any rate, by some people. The chief m the Tumbu a
version of the story “ was extremely fond of eating the flesh
of the monitor lizard in preference to all other meats.

The young man was somewhat startled by this declara¬
tion, but only asked to be shown the tree. When he had
looked at it he was filled with despair, and went away

S ° When he reached the village the girl’s father asked him,
“ Well, have you brought the kenge ? ” He answered, 1
am beaten as to climbing that tree! ” The father sa.d to
him, “ Well, then, you cannot marry my daughter,
the young man started for his own village S . ’ ,

When he arrived he found some men sitting in the
baraza, and one ancient asked him, “ Is it all sett e_ ^ou
your wedding? ” The young man answered, Much
trouble over there 1 Much trouble over there I What

sort of trouble is there yonder ? asked the old man.
youth told his story, and the old man ca led himi aside and
gave him this advice: “ Go and get hold of a goat, also

ran drink at tbe edge.

297

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

catch a dog j then take a bowl of porridge and a bundle of
grass and go back* When you get to the foot of the tree
tie up the goat on one side and the dog on the other ■ then
give the porridge to the goat and the grass to the dog and
sit down, and you will see the Jtctigf come down at once.**

He did as the old man had told him, and went back to
the tree. Having tied up the goat and the dog as directed,
he sought out the girl's father and told him that he was
going to try again. The man said, 11 You were beaten the
first time; die second time you will succeed, so go on and
try again I ”

The young man went once more to the tree, and held out
the. porridge to the goat and the grass to the dog. No
sooner had he done so than he heard a laugh up in the tree,
and the lizard spoke with a human voice, 11 Young man, you
have no sense I How is it you are giving porridge to the
goat and grass to the dug? The young man answered,

M Come down and show me the right way I Please do
come down and show me the right way I ” Then the Jkenge
came down, and the young man at once seized it and ran
off to the village, and the people, when they caught sight of
him, even before he arrived, raised cries or rejoicing* And
the girl's father hurried out to meet him and carried off his
kengt in triumph. The wedding took place on the same
day, and, of course, 11 they lived happy ever after.* 1

It may be of interest to give, in Mr Cullen Young's
translation, the conclusion of the Tumbuka story. In this
after the lizard had called out to the young man he paid no
heed, but did the same as before. Then i

^ The monitor said, 11 Oh 1 what a fool that so-called human is f
Goodness me J Take the porridge and give it to the dog* and
take the grm and give it to the goat. Listen, can't you f and
keep your cars open I n But still porridge to the goar and grass
to the dog. Down came the iizaid. 44 I tell you, take the
porridge and give it to the dog f take the grass and give ir to ihe
goat, and you'll see they'll eat! Stand bade and watch me! 1 ’

1 hen, while the lizard was stretching out its arm to take the
porridge-basket, die young fellow snatched his axe and hit the

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

lizard on the head twice and killed it. When he had tilled ft,
he went with it Into the presence of the chief, where , . . he
marvelled, saying, " You are a lad of parts, young fellow J That
beast defeated a lot of people with their pljms." And then he
began to summon all his people and said, “ It is he who [$ second
m the chiciship \ anyone [ruling light of him as good as makes
light of me.’*

Mateo Vundala does not say what was done with the
ktnge which the young man brought in alive, I have never
heard of their being kept as pets.

I he incident of “ porridge for the goat and grass for the
dog " is found in a Lamba story (Doke, Lamia Folklore ,
p. 15 i ; " The Chief and his Councillors the opening
of which is nearly identical with that of the Tumbuka “ The
Children and their Parents " (Cullen Young, The Tumbuka--
Kamaifga Peoples y p. 243 ). Ail the young men of a certain
tribe were ordered by the chief to kill thejr parents, but one
disobeyed and hid his father and mother in a cave. The
land was ravaged by an ogre who swallowed people and then
retreated to an inaccessible chasm. When this had gone
on for some time the chief called the young men together
and, as no one had anything helpful to suggest, said,

“ Friend*, who has his father here, that he may give me
advice?” They answered, " No, sir, we have none,
because you said, 1 All of you bring your fathers and let us
kill them,' ” But at last the youth who had saved his
parents brought forward his lather; and the old man
enticed the ogre out of his Jair in the way already described.
The monster was immediately killed by the people, who
then, fol lowing the directions of the Kawandami lizard, got
out of him those already swallowed. In the Tumbuka
story the rescued parents help the chief in another kind of
difficulty.

It is somewhat remarkable that the same number of
Mamin/ Leo in which Mateo's story appears contains a
report of what purports to be an actual occurrence, sent in
by a correspondent from the KiJwa district. This man
states that on October 23 , 1926 , he went to wash some

299

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

clothes in the river, and was warned by two boys whom he
met “ to be careful in spreading out washing there, because
there is a large lizard which carries off people’s clothes.”
He did not believe them, and, having finished his work and
spread the things out to dry, went to bathe, when he heard
a rustling in the grass, and was startled to see a kenge
making off with one of the sheets just washed. His shouts
brought some men to his help, and by throwing stones at
the reptile they induced it to drop the sheet.

Whether this be taken as fact or as fiction, it is at any
rate sufficiently curious.

Frogs and Snakes

Frogs of various kinds abound in Africa, from the large
bullfrog, whose voice is so often heard in the land, to the
little shinana, 1 which figures conspicuously in the folklore
of the Baronga. It rivals the hare in astuteness; in fact,
some of its exploits are those elsewhere attributed to him,
and in one Ronga version of the well story it is the shinana ,
and not the tortoise, who traps the hare at last. Wonderful
to relate, it is this same little frog who rescues the girls
enticed by the honey-guide into the ogre’s hut, in the story
already alluded to. 2

In a Lamba tale the great water-snake (Junkwe ) is said to
have changed himself into a man and married a woman
from a certain village. In accordance with the usual
custom, he settled there and worked in the gardens, but he
would never eat porridge. He would go to the river in the
early morning, and there, unseen by the people, assume his
proper form and feed on fish. After some time he told his
wife that he wished to go home, and they set out, accom¬
panied by her brother. On the second day they reached
an enclosure which he said was his home. The wife was
surprised to see no people about, and asked where were his
relations. Though he had previously said that they were

1 Breviceps mossambicus, called karwtrune at Blantyre. It is not much larger
than a shilling, but can blow itself out to twice the size.

1 See ante , pp. 221 and 286.

300

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

“ farther on/’ he now merely remarked, " No, I am left
alone.” He departed, saying he 'would gc to the river and
fetch water, and when out of wight changed into a water-
snake and ate fish and frogs as usual, returning at night.
This happened every day, and at last the brother grew
suspicious, followed him to the river, and found out the
truth. He came back and told his sister, and she said,
'* At night you kill him ! " which he did by heating a knife
red-hot in the fire and cutting off the snake-man's head.

Then they saw multitudes of snakes/ and the snake* said, u Let
us kill these people." Mr Sbck-mimiha refused, buying, IJ No,
first let the chief cume/ T All the lime many snakes kept coming.

During this interval a frog arrived, and asked die man
and woman, " If I save you, what will you give me? "
They answered s 11 We are your slaves 1" Then he swal¬
lowed them s and immediately after took a great drink of
water. The snakes did not see him dn it, but presently
missed the people and asked where they were. The frog
said, “ They have gone to drink water/' and set off for their
village. On the way he met many snakes, who noticed
that he seemed unusually corpulent, and asked, " What
are you filled with? 11 He said* “ Water that I have just
drunk/ 1 They were suspicious, however, and would not
be satisfied till he had brought up some water to prove the
truth of his words. This happened more than once, but
he reached his destination in safety, and the people ex-
claimed, 11 What a huge frog! M lie said, " I am not a
frog; 1 am a man/ Did not some people leave here?"
Explanations followed, and the woman s mother began to
cry- The frog said, " If I bring your children, what will
you give me? 5K She offered him slaves, but he said he did
not want them, “ What do you want, then? M dl I want
beans/* So they gave him two granaries full* And!

a ITiei is jkh a ujual lends. Motif ctiminoftly MimiJl ME limply taken fur
(pan tad u tfeiag; whii they appear to be. Bo* the man MBdormnl by witchcraft
in in atupe of a btm {usually a snake) in tmnl Zulu twna, «ad ii

di^cicliBiilcc^ib Tim Lme] by fearless true kve.

$01

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

making a great effort, he produced the brother and sister
safe and sound. 1

The Frog and his Wife

Another story about a frog, heard in Nyasaland, was at
first extremely puzzling; but with the help of parallel
versions it becomes quite coherent.

A frog who had some difficulty in finding a wife at last
carved the trunk of a tree into the shape of a woman, and
fixed a mpande shell* in the place where her heart should be.
This, we are to understand, brought her to life; he then
married her. Her name was Njali, and she was very
beautiful. They lived happily enough in his hut in the
depths of the forest, till one day in his absence some of the
chiefs men happened to pass by and saw her sitting outside.
They asked for fire and water, which she gave them, and
on their return told the chief about her. He shortly after¬
wards sent the men back to the same place, and they,
finding the husband again absent, carried her off. She
cried out, “ Mother I I am being taken away! ” but there
was none to hear, and when the husband came back he
found her gone.

Here the tale, as I took it down, becomes difficult to
follow, and there is evidently a gap, but the variants (in
some ways hard to reconcile with this and with each other)
suggest that he made ineffectual efforts to get her back.
When these had failed he sent a pigeon, and told her to
bring back the mpande shell, but she could not get it. He
sent the pigeon again, and this time she brought it back;
but as soon as it was taken out the wife died and was

1 Doke, Lamba Folklore , p. 247. The Mpongwe tortoise (Nassau, Where
Animals Talk , p. 33) swallows his wife and servants to save them from the leopard,
and cats some mushrooms after them.

* A disk cut from the base of a particular kind of white spiral shell. It is
highly valued by many tribes, and in some is the emblem of chieftainship, or (as
among the Pokomo) the badge worn by the highest order of elders. Father
Torrend, who gives the Mukuni (Lenje) version of this story, says “ he put a cowry
on the head of his block of wood," but the word in his original text is mpande.
See a note by Major Orde-Browne in the Journal of the African Society for April
1930, p. 285.

302

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

changed back lt> a block of wood. In Father Torrend's
version 1 the husband takes the shell off her head, and

she is already transformed into a simple block of wood, no, she has
become bur a bush standing at the door. . . . Then tiic little
husband comes home humming his own rune, while the king and
those who had seized the woman remain there with their shame.

Late Developments of this Story

Both this and a Swahili version recorded by Veltcn *
make the husband a human being—indeed, the Swahili
title is “ The Carpenter and the Amu let.” bather Tor rend
comments in a note: “ Another version, in which the hero
is a hare, has been published by Jacottct in 1 Tactea Louyi,’
pp, 3-11. The substitution of a hare for a man seems
hardly to improve the story.” But it appears to me that the
learned writer has entirely missed the point in supposing
that the hare has been substituted for the man- Surdy
both hare and frog belong to the more primitive form.

The Luyi variant is interesting, but, as we have already
had sufficient hare stories, 1 have preferred the frog for this
chapter. The Lenje and Swahili ones, not being in any
sense animal stories, are hardly in place here; but it may
be noted that the Lenje husband* instead of sending the
pigeon, carves him self some drums and goes about besting
them and singing, till he finds the place where Ms wife is
detained. Both here and in the Nyanja version it seems
to be implied that in the end (though at first carried off
against her will) she was unwilling to come back to him.

The Bird Messengers . , .

Among birds Introduced mto folk-tales the cock* the
fish-eagle, the guinea-fowl, and doves or pigeons are perhaps
the most frequently mentioned, apart from the unnamed
birds which reveal the secret of a murder. A favourite
incident is the sending of birds with messages, as the pigeon
was sent by the frog in the story just given. It wdJ be
remembered that Murilc, when about to return home from

I Btrnl* FoQZtrt, p, 44-

■ Mirrbtrt ttnJ £nMtv*ge«, p. M?-

303

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

the Moon country, sent the mocking-bird to announce his
coming, after questioning several other birds and finding
their replies unsatisfactory. 1

Guttmnn 1 gives the same story with less detail, men¬
tioning of birds only the eagle (w hose cry of Kuruif Kurul !
is nearly the same as that attributed in K a urn's, version to
the raven), the raven (who here says Na / Na /), and the
mocking-bird, though “ all the birds 11 are said to have been
called upon. The mocking-bird's note is rendered as Chiri /
Chirll which she amplifies into a song of ten or twelve lines.

So, too, Mlilua, in the Iramba * story, called the birds.
" Crow, if I send you to my mother’s, what will you say ? ”
"Gnie! Give! ” The crow was rejected. None of the
birds he called up pleased him, till at last came one known
as the shufUa. " If I send you home, what will you go
and say?” " We shall say, Cfictu! Chetu! I have seen
MJilua and his cattle."

La Sagesse des Petits

It will have been noticed how important is the part
assigned in these stories to small and insignificant creatures,
such as the hare, the tortoise, the frog, the chameleon, 1
mice, and others. I do not think this fact is fully accounted
for by McCall Theal, 1 who writes:

There was nothing that led to elevation of thought in any of
these storks, though one idea, That might easily be mistaken on a
first view for a good out, pervaded many of Them : The superiority
of b rain power to physical force, but on looking deeper the brain
power was always interpreted aa low cunning : if was wilinea,
not greatness of mind, chat won in the strife against the stupid
strong.

To my mind, it is nearer the mark to say that much of
African folklore is inspired by sympathy with the underdog,

1 Amt, p. 7t . 1 fWirWA. p. ijj.

3 Johnsflij, Kmh-nmbiij p. 343.

1 Thr chameleon* quite apart from the legend related In ChipEw Up often
a part rewmbteng iha.L af the hirr ; The P^£oefw> for i finance, lcIL how he belt *hfi
m a bj holding cm ta ha tad and piling; juried id eIk goal.

* Pnpk of Afrit Hi p, 3 75 .

3^4

STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS

arising from a true, if crude and confused, feeling that
the weak things of the world " have been chosen “ to
confound the things which are mighty/*

M. Junod expresses much the same thought; 1

VVhjr doca this rheme of the triumph of wisdom over strength
reappear so frequently and under so ntuny aspens in this popu¬
lar literature r Doubtless because the thought is natural and
eminently satisfying to tile mind of man.

It is also brought out very fully in the chapter of his
earlier work which is entitled '* La Srtgcsse des Petits,"

The Shrew-mouse helps the Man

The idea is well illustrated by a little story from the
northern part of Nyasalnnd,* which may fitly conclude this
chapter. Incidentally, ft shows a curious coincidence of
thought between primitive Africa and rural England, in
the belief that a shrew must die if it crosses a road,

A Namwsnga man one day went hunting with his dogs,
and came upon a shrew (umdumbd) by the roadside. It
said to him, 11 Master, help me across this swollen stream ”
{/.e., the path, which for him was just as impassable). He
refused, and was going on, but the little creature entreated
him again: " Do help me across this swollen stream, and
I wilt help you across yours,” The man turned bark,
picked it up, and carried it across, "very reluttanlly,"
(Why? Is there a feeling against touching a shrew, as
Africans certainly shrink from touching a chameleon or
some kinds of lizards r) It then disappeared from his sight,
and he went on with his dogs and killed some guinea-fowl,
Thun, as it came on to rain, he took refuge in one of the
little watch-huts put Up in the gardens for those whose
business it is to drive away monkeys by day and wild pigs
by night. The shrew, which had followed him unseen,
was hidden in the thatch.

Presently a lion came along, and thus addressed the

i Lift tf <■ KanA JfritiM Tribt, rot. ii, p. sij 4 CAattU ftttmti, p. 14).

* (liiitem-vunga Xltritt, p. 1$.

u JOJ

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

hunter: " Give your guinea-fowl to the dogs, let them eat
them, you eat the dogs, and then I'll eat you I *'

The man was terrified, and could neither speak nor
move. The lion roared out the same words a second time.
Thun tame a little voice out of the thatch.

“ just so. Give the guinea-fowl to the dogs, let them
eat them, you cat the dogs, the lion will eat you, and 1 r J[
eat the lion-”

The lion ran away without looking behind him.

The Lamba have a somewhat similar story, in which the
hunter is saved from two ogres by a lizard in the wall of the
house and the white ants. They seem to have acted out
of pure good-nature, as there is no hint of his having
rendered them a service. 1

1 Dalwp Lvmkf* FWJfoiv* p- 143: Ji Tht Sfiorj of chi Min, ihc UputJ. and 1 he
Termitei- 1 " Company oucudc ihc Bantu utA ? the nory or the eawrpiJliir who
frighu^l iway ^ iJ the uimib except the Fra^ who in the end ,H uEkd hil Muff"
(HolLbj Tkt Ma$ai t p, 184],

jo6

CHAPTER XX: SOME STORIES WHICH
HAVE TRAVELLED

J HA\ E, mure than once, in previous chapters ex¬
pressed my inability to accept in its entirety what is
known as the Diffusioniat hypothesis. I sec no reason
to suppose that the stories shout the hare, for instance,
were imported from India, even though some of them are
almost exactly the same as those toJd of Mahdeo and the
jackal, or that the tribes of the Amazon valley borrowed
their tales of the Jabuti tortoise and his wiles from the
imported Negroes.

But this is not to say that there are no stories which can
ht traced as having been introduced from outside and ivc
may conclude with a few of the most interesting specimens.

chosen for the purpose must have come in Jong
so lung as to have taken on a distinctly African colouring,
even more thoroughly than Uncle Remus's stories have
become American, t am leaving out of account such
recent introductions as iE sop's fables, which circulate
extensively in vernacular translations, or stories manifestly
taken from Grimm or similar European col lection sc. In
a manuscript collection written by a Nyanja native I found
not long ago, among a great deal of genuine local folklore,
The Story of the King s Daughter and the Frog," which
the writer must have read or heard, probably in English,
Again, i n Kiforaka we find ** The Story of Siyalcl* and her
Sisters, which the Compiler either failed to recognize as
Cinderella, or thought sufficiently naturalized to pass
muster with the rest. Contributors to Mambo Leo have
even begun translating " Unde Remus " into Swahili, and,
though he is, in a way, only coming back to the country' of
his origin, there may be a danger of confusing these tales
with the genuine local growth. In any case, considering
the spread of reading and the circulation of extraneous
matter, it behoves all interested in folklore to rescue
the aboriginal stories as far as possible before it h too
late.

307

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU
From Assam to Nyasaland

In Captain Rattray’s little book 1 “ The Blind Man and
the Hunchback ” at once strikes one as having a distinctive
character of its own; in fact, when I first read it I could
recall no African parallel. Since then I find in Mr Posselt’s
Fables oj the Veld (p. 6) a version—to my mind not nearly
so good—entitled “ The Man and his Blind Brother.”
And, more recently, it is included in the manuscript collec¬
tion of Walters Saukila.

Many years after the publication of Captain Rattray’s
book I was surprised by coming across the identical story
in volume xxxi of Folk-Lore (1920), with, of course, con¬
siderable differences of local colouring. It was told to
J. D. Anderson by a Kachari in Assam. This is such a
far cry from Central Angoniland, where the people were,
at the beginning of this century, comparatively untouched
by European influence, that there might seem to be diffi¬
culties in the way of supposing this to be a case of transfer¬
ence. But, though I have so far been unable to hear of an
Indian or Persian analogue, it may be orally current among
those populations of India whose folklore is as yet but imper¬
fectly recorded. Indian traders have frequented the East
African coast from very early times, 2 and a tale like this, told
to the coast-dwellers and speedily becoming popular, would
be passed on from tribe to tribe along with the trade-goods
which in this way reached the far interior. The differences
between the Kachari and the Nyanja versions are sufficient
to show that it must have been a long time on the way.

The Nyanja version begins by saying that a certain
village was plagued by a pair of man-eating lions (this
passage is entirely wanting in the other), and the chief, by the
advice of his people, opened negotiations with them: “ Why
° U Sd . 2in e P®°P^ e ever y day? ” The lions answered,
We say, if you give us your two daughters whom you love
we will not come again to seize people. ” So the chief took
his two daughters and built a grass hut for them on the hill
where the lions were wont to show themselves.

308 ' CA ' nyanJa FoUlore ’ P- * 49 - 1 See Ingrains, Zanzibar, p. 33 .

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

Now, in another country there were two men, one was
blind and the other humpbacked, and they set out for this
chiefs village. On the way the hunchback saw a tortoise
on the path, and told the blind man, who said, " Pick it up.”
He refused, but his companion said, " Just pick it up for
me,” and he did so, and the blind man put it into his bag.
A little farther on they came to a dead porcupine, and the
blind man asked his friend to pick up one quill, which,
again, he did, after refusing at first. Some time later they
came upon a dead elephant, and the man who had shot it
was abo lying dead, with his gun beside him. The blind
man, again with some difficulty, persuaded the other to pick
up the gun and one tusk, and they went on their way.

When it was growing dark they climbed a hill, and the
hunchback saw smoke rising from a hut on the top. They
went up to it, and, finding two girls there, said that, as they
had been overtaken by night, they wanted a place to sleep
in. The girls said, 11 You cannot sleep here; our father
has built this house for us, so that the lions may come and
eat us.” But they would not listen, and said, " This is
where we are going to sleep.” While they were still
speaking the lions arrived; they heard them roaring, and
one of the lions asked, *' Who is talking in the house? Who*
ever you are, we are going to eat you along with the rest.”

The blind man said, “ You can’t cat us ; we are onlv
strangers seeking shelter for the night." The lion said,

M 1 am going to throw one of my lice at you, and see if
that won’t frighten you! ” The girls and the hunchback
fainted with terror, but the blind man kept his head, and
when the lion threw his louse he groped about till he caught
it, and said, ” That tiny little thing! Look at that now !
I'm going to throw it into the fire I ” And he did so, and
it burst with a loud crack. Then he said, u Now I’m going
to throw my louse,” and he threw the tortoise. The lion
picked it up and looked at it in astonishment, but, not to
be beaten, he said, " I am not afraid of you. I shall throw
you one of my hairs,” and he pulled one from his mane
and threw it, * The blind man retaliated by throwing the

3°9

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

porcupine's quill. Then thu lion threw one of his teeth, and
the blind man answered with the elephant's tusk, whereat, the
lion was so startled that he jumped and said, 11 Ha I Truly
this person has a terrible tooth 1 11 But he was not prepared
to give in* 11 Now I ajn going to let you hear my voice/'
and he gave a tremendous roar. And the blind man, who
had been loading his gun and getting it into position, said,
*' Let another of you roar, that I may hear his voice also/ 1
The other Hon having done so, he said, |J I have heard you.
Now come close that you may hear mine/ 1 When they
had done so: “Where are you? n l( Wc arc here."
" Stick your heads close together. 1 ' And he fired and
killed them both. When the echo had died away he asked,
Jl Have you heard my voice? ** but ail was silence, and he
set to work to revive hh companions* They would nnL
believe his news, but he persuaded them to open the door, and
they went out and found the lion and lionet both dead*
When morning dawned the grateful girls picked up their
two deliverers and carried them on their backs to their
father's village. When he saw them he was very angry
with them for deserting their post and, as he supposed,
endangering the whole village; but they soon placated
him + 1 These men have killed those wild beasts. Pr He

was incredulous, but they swore most solemnly that it was
true, and he sent some young men to see* These soon
found the lions and cut off their tails* When they came
back with the trophies the chief asked the people* +< Now,
as to these men who have killed the lions, what shall we do
for them? ' They replied that he ought to give them his
daughters in marriage^ which he did on the spot, and
showed them where to build their village. He also gave
them six mptinde shells, to be divided equally between them.
But the hunchback tried to cheat his friend, saying they had
received only five, and giving him two. In the resulting
quarrel the hunchback hit the blind man over the eyes, and
the blind man smick him with a stick. And, behold 1 the
one recovered his sight and the other was able to stand up
straight* So they were reconciled*

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

In the Kachan story the men pass the night in a granary,
used by a gang of robbers as a storehouse for their plunder;
and, instead of (he lions, a " tcrribJe, man-eating demon ”
comes after them, and is scared away much after the manner
described. Mr Posselt's version omits the girls; the
brothers take shelter in a cave which is the lions' den, and
the quarrel takes place over the sale of the lions’ skins.

The Washerman’s Donkey and the Pardoner's Tale

The Buddhist Jatakas , which, I understand, are really
folk-tales fitted into a religious framework by being repre¬
sented as the adventures of the Buddha in his various
incarnations, might appear to be quite remote from our
theme; but some of them, in one form or another, have
certainly readied the African coast. One of the beat
known among ihcse is 11 The Washerman’s Donkey," 1
which Is really the Sunuumara Jataka, and is also found in
(he Sanskrit collection of Stories Called Punchaiaitira^ under
the title of “ The Monkey and the Porpoise.*’ The
Swahili title is only indirectly applicable to the story, or,
rather, belongs to a story within the story, told by the
monkey to the shark; M The Monkey who left his Heart
in a Tree '* describes it much better.

Another Jataka ((he Vedabbhd) has had the strangest
fortunes, finally coming down to us in the shape of Chaucer’s
“ Pardoner's Tale." It was probably brought back from
the East by some returned pilgrim or crusading soldier, and
embodied in that queer compilation the Guta Roma norum.
The Swahili version, entitled u The Heaps of Gold," *
Would seem to have come through Persia, perhaps sub¬
jected to Christian influence on the way. This, however, is
doubtful, as Moslem lircraturc abounds in elements taken
from the Apocryphal Gospels or the floating traditions which
furnished the materials for these.

The story opens by saying that Christ (here called Isa,
as always by Moslems) while on a journey was joined by a

1 Sierrc. Sum%ili Talch ?r I.

311

1 P-

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

man, who, though not encouraged to do so, insisted on
accompanying him , 1 When they were approaching a
town I S3 gave the man some money and told him to buy
three haves, " one for thee, one for me, and the third we
will keep in reserve." He did so, and they sat down to
rest. When they had eaten, each his loaf, they went on,
the man carrying the third loaf. When they had gone
some distance, thinking himself unobserved, he ate it.
Next day they came to a spring and sat down there. When
asked to produce the loaf the man said it had been stolen.
Isa said nothing at the time, and they went on. They
walked till they were both weary, and sat down to rest in a
place where there was much sand. Isa made three heaps
of sand, and at his prayer they were changed Into gold.
Then he said, “ Friend, take one of these heaps to thyself,
one is for me, and the third is for him who stole the loaf.”
The man, forgetting all else in his greed, exclaimed, “ It
was I who stole the loaf—I who am here I " The Master
told him to take them all, and left him there.

The wretched man could neither carry the gold nor
bring himself to leave it, so remained on the spot till three
horsemen came by, who, seeing the treasure, stopped and
murdered him. Two of them stayed to guard it, while the
third rode on to the town to buy provisions. On the way
it occurred to him that he mi^ht have the gold all to himself,
so he poisoned the wine which he meant to give the other
two. This part of the story is so well known that it is
scarcely necessary to add that the two killed him on his
return, and shortly died of the poison. " So all these four
men died, because of that sand which had been changed into
gold."

Not long afterwards Christ passed that way with his dis¬
ciples, and they marvelled at seeing the heaps of gold and
the four dead men. Then he told them the story, and said,

“ This is not gold, but sand,” and at their request he prayed
to God, and what had been gold then became sand once
more.

1 Thii opening doe* not enme into the *' Pardoner'* Tale.”

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED
The Ingratitude of Man

.Another story in the Guta Romaaertm r which must
•ra* k« come fern India, is extant in at least three
hwahiJi Versions, al I of which have the same moral, equiva-

mtlje X \ % lIX - ° f thc P em : ernnium vivtntium in

mmd* ue benefetti accepits tsi tttgratisshttrnt homo: “ Of all

bt'IS^ ” rld ““ " for

This story should be well known to all students of Swahili

COnt3JI ? ed “ elementary reader generally used (a

miX X Z ?nnt l 'T Thh though

much shorter than that given by Dr Vdten/ contains

several important points omitted by the latter The fol¬
lowing IS an attempt to combine the two.

A king's son who wished to see the world set out alone
on li.H travels. In course of time he found himself in a vast
desert, in the midst of which he spied one solitary tree, to
which, when he had reached it, he tied his horse, living his
weapons on the ground beside it. Not far off wait a well
and being very thirsty, he hastened to let down the bucket

C ‘ , 0n dra * ifJ g «t be saw that,
instead ol fwing[filled with water, it contained a snake. He

was about to kill it but it said, “ Don't kill me; some day
I may be able to help you.” So he spared it, and let down
the bucket again, drawing it up with difficulty, as it was
very heavy When he got it to the top he fhund in it a
ion, who addressed him in the same way a a the snake, and
both added tins warning I H Never do good to any child
nt Adam: the non of Adam, if you do good to him, will

only repay you evil." Then they thanked him and took
themselves off.

The youth let down the bucket a third time, and brought
up a man, who, so tar from behaving like the snake and the
hon, knocked him down, ded him up with the well-rope
took his weapons, and rode off on his horse. The lion*
however who had not gone far, came back and released
him. He took him along to his den, and provided Him

1 March™ uxJ Erta/tlun^rn, p.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

with loot! by lying Lip near the path to a village and, when
he saw a man passing with a load of rice or beans, frightening
him, so that he dropped it.

One day the lion ventured as far as the town, -and, seeing
the sultan's daughter walking in the garden attended by her
slaves, sprang over the fence and seized her. The slave-
girls scattered in terror, and the lion brought the princess
back to the young man, saying, “ Take her jewels, but give
me the girl, that I may eat her." He answered, 41 If you
want to give me anything give me the girl as well.’’ So he
took her for his wife, and built a hut for her In the forest,
and they lived there happily for a time. One day the snake
appeared, ami handed the young man two of his teeth,
saying, " If ever you get into trouble take a stone and beat
these teeth with it, and J will come to you at once.”

Now the man who had been rescued from the well had
come to this very town and, by making himself very agree¬
able, had so got into favour with the sultan that, in the end,
he became nis vizier. And it happened on a day that,
going out with a hunting-party, he Was separated from the
rest of the Company, and, wandering by himself in the
forest, came to the little hut, whore he saw the sultan's
daughter. At once he hastened back to the town to give
the alarm; soldiers were sent out, and the couple were
speedily brought before the .sultan., Then the vizier came
forward, accused the young man! not only of carrying oft
the princess, but of turning himself into a lion in order to
do Sii, and advised his being shut up in a dungeon without
food or room to lie down, so that he might be induced to
disclose his secret arts.

I his was done, but he did not quite starve, for a com-
passionate slave-woman fed him secretly with scraps of
bread, And then he suddenly remembered the snake’s
teeth, and beat them with a stone. The snake appeared at
once and told him, " lo-day when the sultan goes to bathe
shall bite him, and nothing can cure him except these
teeth of mine. So he went and coiled himself on the ledge

or the tank m the palace bathroom, and when the sultan
3*4

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

took up the ladle to pour the water over his head struck
him on the lip, and he fell down. All possible remedies
were tried, but to no purpose, till at last an old woman
came forward who said she had heard that the only man who
knew of a cure was the one chained in the prison. He was
sent for, and ground the snake’s teeth to powder, which was
applied to the snake-bite and soon effected a cure. The
sultan made inquiries, heard the whole story, and ordered
the treacherous vizier to be sewn up in a sack and cast into
the sea. His daughter’s wedding was celebrated in proper
fashion, and the pair lived happily to the end of their
days.

This clearly belongs to the “ Grateful Beasts ” class of
stories, of which numerous examples, variations on this
and other themes, are well known in Europe. The third
Swahili version must be derived from the same original as
the other two, but varies so considerably that this is not at
first sight obvious. An ape is introduced as well as the
lion and the snake, and a poor youth finds them, not in a
well, but in the traps which he has set to catch game.
There are other important differences, which, however,
need not detain us.

Part of this—the providing of the only effectual remedy
by a despised stranger—is to be found in a Persian story:

“ The Colt Qeytas ,” 1 but this is much nearer to “Kiba-
raka,’’ the tale which gives its title to the collection already
mentioned more than once.

The Composite Tale of Kibaraka

This is made up of various elements. The opening I
have not so far traced. The sultan’s son and the vizier’s son,
born on the same day, go for a walk together, and the former
treacherously forsakes his companion, who loses his way
and wanders about till he comes to a house inhabited by a
zimwi. This being receives him kindly, to all appearance,
but soon departs to call his friends to a cannibal feast.
Here comes in the well-known motif of the Forbidden

1 D. L. R. and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales, pp. 38-42.

315

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Chamber. 1 The zinruji telis him he may go into every
room but one* In the fifth, which is the forbidden one,
he finds a gigantic horse, who speaks and tells him the true
character of His host. The horse himself is being kept only
till fat enough 5 then he and every other living thing in the
house will be eaten by the ogre and his friends, who are
due to arrive In two days’ time. Me directs the youth to
let out all the animals shut up in the various apartments (3
lion, a leopard, a donkey, and an ox) and to take out of a
great chest seven bottles—containing the obstacles of the
well-known “ Magic Flight." The horse then swallows
all the animals and a quantity of the ogre's treasure, directs
the youth to saddle and mount him, and they escape in the
usual way, throwing down the seven bottles, one after
another, to produce thorns, fire, sea, anti 50 on. This part
comes into far too many stories to be repeated here; the
flight, with much the same obstacles, is found, for instance,
in the Persian "Orange and Citron Princess.” 2

They then build a house m the forest (one must under¬
stand that the horse produces it by magical means, but this
is not stated in the Swahili),and Kibaraka (" Little Blessing"
—this appears to be a name assumed for the occasion,
though it has not hitherto been mentioned) strolls into the
town, by the horse's advice, in the guise of a beggar.
Here, one day, proclamation is made that the sultan is going
to arrange the weddings of his seven daughters. All the
people are ordered to assemble, and each girl is to throw a
lime at the man of her choice. The eldest manages to hit
the Grand Vizier's son, to the general satisfaction. Then
the rest make their choice among the young nobles, up to
the sixth ; but the youngest aims her lime at the beggar-lad
and hits him. This incident and similar ones are found
in Persian and other stories—for instance, in " The Colt

1 £« Tkf vol. ill (igS jji pp. 194-141. The inddem ii found

MOtia p in very diSextnt fcEttngu i.g. r M IIisaMbu KjLwem (d
Djo iml " Tht Spirit and the Suluni San p " in 5 t#re Taln r pp. 333

mh »nd H Sulttni Zuwtrz," in X Hurt*.;, P , -
1 D. L. R. and E> O, Lorimer, Ptrmm Taftr, p* 135*

3 l6

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

Qiiytaa," of which the beginning is quite different. The
conclusion of this is much the same as the end of " ^baraka,”
with minor variations : the sultan is ill, and can only be
cured, in one case by the flesh of a certain bird, in the other
by leopard’s milk. 'Hie six sons-in-law try in vain to pro¬
cure the remedy: the seventh, who has been despised and
kept at a distance, succeeds. For a time he allows the others
to take the credit, on condition of letting him brand them
as his slaves. But Kibaraka has previously, in disguise for,
rather, in his own proper form and riding on the magic
horse), distinguished himself in battle and routed the
sultan’s enemies. This does not appear in the Persian tale,
though it does elsewhere. Whatever the origin of this
story, the hero's words when he finally reveals himself show
whence it passed to the Swahili coast: “ I am not Kibaraka:

I am Hamed, the son of the Wazir in the land of Basra f *—
the last thirteen words being Arabic.

Parts of this story' seem to have spread wherever the
Arabs have carried their language and their traditions.
The lime-throwing incident occurs both in Somali and in
Fulfuldc (the language of the Fulani, in West Africa).
The Somali story of “ Lame Habiyu 11 begins like " The
Colt Q^tas,” and goes on very much as ‘ Kibaraka."

The Merry Jests of Abu Nuwis

There was, in the reign of Harumer-Rashid (765-809),
a certain poet at Bagdad, named Abu Nuwas, whose work,
is highly praised by the best judges (it has been translated
into German, if not into English), and whose name, twisted
in various ways, is known up and down the Swahili coast—
but not for his poems. Whether or not any of the stories
told of him are true, his legend has attracted to itself all the
jests and practical jokes current before or during his time,
or invented since. He has got mixed up with the hare, one
of whose names in Swahili is Xibanawasi, which might be
puimin^ly turned into Kibwana was!, M Little Master of
Shifts.' He is always being set impossible tasks by the
caliph (sometimes Ha run is mentioned by name), and

317

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

always cleverly turns the tables on him. When told to
build a house in the air he sends up a kite hung with little
bells (“ Don't you hear the carpenters at work? ”), and then
calls on the caliph to send up stones and lime, which, of
course, he is unable to do. Some of his exploits have
reached Delagoa Bay, where M. Junod, misled by the local
colouring they had acquired by that time, concluded that
“ Bonawasi” was a corruption of the Portuguese Bonifacio.
One of the most popular, here as elsewhere (it has been
heard from Egyptian story-tellers), is the order to the whole
population to produce eggs, by which it is hoped to entrap
Abu Nuw&s. The charming illustration on p. 298 of Chants
et contes des Baronga shows the Governor of Mozambique
presiding at the performance in full uniform.

The Portuguese, who at one time made their name so
much dreaded on the coast (even now “ Proud as a Portu¬
guese ” and “ Violent as a Portuguese ” are current sayings
in Pate), are represented as being pitiably duped by Abu
Nuwas. He burned his house down, loaded a ship with
sacks full of the ashes, and put to sea. Meeting seven
Portuguese vessels loaded with silver, he pretended that
he was taking a cargo of treasure as a present to his sultan,
and was so ostentatiously reluctant to part with it that they
determined to buy it, and finally did so for a shipload of
silver. Abu Nuwas returned with this, and went to the
sultan, asking him for some men, to unload his cargo of
silver. This, of course, led to inquiries, which caused the
sultan to burn down the whole town and load a fleet with
the ashes. Result: a collision with the Portuguese at sea,
in which ships were sunk and many of the sultan’s men
killed. Abu Nuwas was sought for, but escaped as usual,
and played further pranks in a fresh place.

The Three Words

There seem to be endless variations of the story in which
a man received three pieces of advice from his father, or
spent all the money left him by his father on three pieces
or advice from a wise man. These are, in one case: “ If you

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

see a thing do not speak of it ; if you speak of it something
[unpleasant] will happen to you,” 1 Secondly, “ If the
sun sets while you are on the road stay where you are till
you can see where you are going.” Thirdly, 11 If a friendly
person hails you in passing never refuse to stop.'* Or, as
sometimes found, if called three times you must turn aside,
having returned a civil answer to the first and second sum¬
mons. Other pieces of advice are : u Never tell a secret
to a woman Pl \ “A man does not betray one who trusts
him ,F ^ 41 What is in your purse is your possession ; what
is in the field or in the hose is no use to you.” Some
of these, in shortened form, are current as well-known
proverbs and are frequently quoted.

The second of those enumerated above enables the hero
to escape from robbers* while his companions, who insist on
pressing on after dark, are attacked and murdered. The
third saves him from a treacherous plot: he is sent by an
enemy with a message intended to ensure hia murder, but
delays on the road when asked to stop —In one case by an
old friend of his father's* This incident, or one very like
it, is found in the Gesta as well as in some old

French fabliaux^ and was made use of by Schiller for his
ballad her Gang nath dem Eistnhammer* It also occurs,
out of its proper setting, in a Swahili story called IK The
Judge and the Eay/' 3 where it is combined with parts of
several other stories, imperfectly told*

There fa a Persian story, 1 ** The Man who bought
Three Piece* of Advice,” where the H three words 11 are
of a somewhat different character, and the hero—or, rather*
his wife—comes to grief through disregarding the third,
though they are enabled to escape from their croubles by
following the second. These counsels are:

14 Don't {TO out when there are clouds in the sky in
winter-time-

1 Thai i> murh nralrr <p the original, owing te the fact that n meapi both
1 word * fl.net ' njcncthang/ d anything.' Literally, "If ycu set »n5sthing don't
lay Anything ' r if yon **y anyihing unnsthtng will gtt jtmJ*

■ Ki&itrti&Sj p. j f i " l Ka^Ni pa Mtulv"

* D. L. R. and E. O. Leri™-, Persian y. t&y*

3*9

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

'* Whenever you see a pigeon, a hound, and a cat for sale,
buy them, whatever rhe price, and keep them with you and
take good care of them.”

" Never fell to anyone the advice you have got, and never
let an outside woman enter your house. 1 '

In the old Cornish folk-tale " John of Chyanorth " 1 the
three pieces of advice (or, in the original, " points of wit ”)
are: “ Take care that thou dost not leave the old road for
the new road ”; 41 Take care that thou dost not lodge in
a house where may be an old man married to a young
woman ” ; Be thou struck twice ere strike once "—-Or, as
ir stands in another part of the text, “ Be advised twice ere
strike once.”

The Magic Mirror, the Magic Carpet, and the Klivir of Lift
Another story imported from the East—whether from
Arabia, Persia, or India I am unable to say—is that published
by M. Junod* under the title of “Lea Trofe Vaisseaux.”
It is found in the most unexpected places, even on the
Congo and the Ivon' Coast, though sonic of these Western
versions may be of independent origin. Three brothers
go on a trading expedition, and acquire a magic mirror, a
magic carpet (usually described as a mat or basket), and a
medicine for restoring the dead to life. These enable
them to see the young woman with whom ail three are in
ovt. dying, if not already dead, to reach her before she is
mined, and to administer the medicine, The question
n 5 ”r anaea: has done the most towards saving her and

RhaJi consequently marry her? It is variously decided,
..ometimes, a^ in the Congo version,“the narrator stops short
at this point, and leaves the decision to the audience.

Portuguese Influence

Some of the stories in Chatelaines Folk-tales of Angola
us certainly have come from Portugal, while others are

J £“■* £"*»#/«* St b* Bl A.), PP . jM. 1

* ’ Cmlr y J cnncf » Bo»j»wri, Hayle^ fur dinrccwtjr my attention

* ChinSi rtantfj, p,

J2CJ

* Dcnnctf, Feli-Lirtuftht fj tr t, No. III.

The ‘Temple,’ Zimbabwe

3 *°

STORIES WHICH HAVE TRAVELLED

unmistakably of African growth, the Utter being by far the
more numerous. An interesting case of importation is the
story of Fenda Madia 1 —one of the “ False Bride ” class.
She sets out to disenchant Fele MilantU (Felix Miranda) by
weeping twelve jugs full of tears, but is cheated when just
in sight of success by a slave-girl, who takes her place and
marries him. Here, too, a part is played by a magic
min-or— a distinctly non-African element. The story is
current both in Portugal and in Italy, but in all probability
originated farther east. Parts of it resemble the Utter portion
of the Persian “Orange and Citron Princess.” a

A magic mirror—which might as well be a ring or any
other object, since its function is not to reveal what is hap¬
pening at a distance, but to procure for the possessor
whatever he wishes—figures in a story collected by Father
Toirend at Quill mane. 1 Here the African anil European
elements are curiously mixed. A childless couple are told
by a diviner to eat a pair of small fish ; in due course they
have a son, who, when grown, goes to cut wood in the forest.
He befriends a python in difficulties, and is rewarded by
the gift of a mirror which gives him everything he wants,
and enables him to marry the governor’s daughter.

M. Junod* describes 11 La Fills du Roi ” as a Portuguese
story, It was told him by a Ronga woman, who had heard
it from some young persons of her own tribe employed by
Europeans in the town of Loutenpo Marques. The first
part is much the same as Grimm's *' The Shoes that were
danced to Pieces,” except that there is only one princess,
instead of twelve, and the place where she goes to dance is
called " Satan’s house.” The rest of the story' is quite un¬
like anything In Grimm, neither is it distinctively xYfrican.

I have, so far, been unable to trace this part.

In conclusion I may mention, in passing, the curious
fact that a story substantially the same as that of The Mer-
cha*t of 1 'enke was written out for me in Swahili by a native

i Ffl/i-uif, of Artgtia, pp. ij + !■ * Ser nufr, p. )_■*-

1 SrirM, in ZtiixAr&fMr afnhvisikt and Gttamttht 'cl. i, p- s+7.

* rt eenitt. p. Jl7-

X 321

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

teacher at Ngao, who said he had heard it from an Indian
at Kipmi. The Indian, he supposed, M had got it out of
some hook of his, 1 ' He may, of course, have "read Shake¬
speare's play, or seen it acted, but it is quite possible that
he had derived it from his own country, The story is
found in the Gtstti Rdmattarum > and can therefore, in all
probability, be traced to an Oriental source.

It is sometimes said that “ all the stories have been told ,r
—also that there are only about a dozen plots in the whole
world. But the old stories are perpetually fresh to the
new generations who have not yet heard them, and the
dozen plots—if that is the number—are susceptible of
such infinite variation that neither the novelist nor the
collector of folk-tales need be unduly discouraged.

The more fully the subject is studied the more clearly
will it appear that the folklore of Bantu-speaking Africans
IS not inferior in variety and interest to that of Asia, Poly¬
nesia, or America If differing from them in character.

There is much that atifl remains to be known, and of
what has already been recorded I have been forced to leave
a large amount untouched. I trust the specimens here
given will be sufficient to show that the notion of Africa
as a continent without history, poetry, or mythology worthy
of the name is wholly erroneous.

321

Fmuiiuiti

. ^ /bln&a

ftiAf fcwf) J*

Kiljintui jnr»

IRAMBA ' r ':'W/ 7 :

kimM.su

.tUAWfijj

-Tabam

yikk

fizabdhvtll

ienguda

CNEWA

CHiF£TA

Vo r n;i

BWrNBryKUNl/NSENGA

rS^T^r - ^/.ntubezi
SU&tVA /

knng»i WM .

frtttifv#

•Sol is bury

NOONGA

NOEBELE

ipU)

-Wljhotfk

BUSHMEN

Tnhtmibuiti'

►iWmm £

.ituhfiiinrstsurqg

'6ECH^ NA

P 1 ,

ibertetj

■BIwmMiein

gffflm

Jttir&SalkJdii!

Walmftay

Lmltril?*

Names of IVmtu^pwJm^ Innas siunvn
tliiL'BECHIMNA
PimBuirtu Epmkinfl tribes shown
thus- HOTTENTOTS

DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES IN SOUTHERN AND EQUATORIAL AFRICA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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(Sheldon Press, 1929).

Baskerville, Mrs George : The King of the Snakes and other Folklore
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Bittremieux, Leo: Mayombsch Idioticon (2 vols.; Drukkerij Erasmus,
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(TrQbner, 1862).

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Chiefly translated from original manuscripts in the library of His
Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B. (TrQbner, 1864). (Includes
one or two Bantu stories.)

Bryant, Rev. A. T.: A Zulu-English Dictionary (Mariannhill Mission Press,
Natal, 1905).

- Olden Times in Natal and ZuInland: containing Earlier Political

History of the Eastern Nguni Clans (Longmans, 1929).

Buttner, C. G.: Anthologie der Suaheli-Litteratur (Felber, Berlin, 1894).

Callaway, Henry: The Religious System of the Amazulu (Trflbner, 1870 ;
reissued by the Folk-Lore Society, 1885).

- Nursery Tales and Traditions of the Zulus (TrQbner, 1868).

Casalis, Eugene : Les Bassoutos (Meyrueis, Paris, 1859).

Chatelain, Hiu: Folk-tales of Angola (Boston and New York; published
for the American Folk-Lore Society by G. E. Stechert, 1894).

Clouston, W. A.: Popular Tales and Fictions, their Migrations and Trans¬
formations (2 vols.; Blackwood, 1887).

Colenso, J. W.: Zulu-English Dictionary (fourth authorized edition,
revised and enlarged, Vause, Slatter, Pietermaritzburg, 1905).

CrasterJ.E.E.: Pemba, the Spice Island ofZanzibar (Fisher Unwin, 1913).

Cripps, Rev. A. S.: Chaminuka (“ Little Books for Africa,” No. 15) (Sheldon
Press, 1928).

Cronise, F. M., and Ward, H. W.: Cunnie Rabbit, Mr Spider and the
other Beef: West African Folk Tales (Swan Sonnenschein, 1903).

Dannholz, J. J.: Im Banne des Geisterglaubens (Verlag der evangelisch-
lutherischen Mission, Leipzig, 1916).

De Clercq, P.: “ Vingt-deux Contes Luba,” in Zeitschrift fur Kolonial-
sprachen, vol. iv, p. 3 (Hamburg, 1914).

Dennett, R. E.: Notes on the Folk-lore of the Fjort (French Congo) (Nutt,
1898).

- At the Back of the Black Man's Mind; or. Notes on the Kingly Office in

West Africa (Macmillan, 1906).

323

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Dewar, Emmeline H.: Chinamwanga Stories (Livingstonia Mission Press,
1900).

Doke, C. M.: Lamba Folklore (published for the American Folk-Lore
Society by G. E. Stechert, 1927).

- The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia: A Study of their Customs and Beliefs

(Harrap, 1931).

Driberc, J. H.: “ YakaS,” in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
vol. Ixi, 1931.

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1912).

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1920) (quarterly journal of the Folk-Lore Society).

Folk-Lore Journal (South African Folk-Lore Society, Capetown, 1879-80).

Fraser, Rev. Donald: IVinning a Primitive People : Sixteen Tears 9 Work
among the Warlike Tribe of the Ngoni and the Senga and Tumbuka
Peoples of Eastern Africa (Seeley, Service, 1922).

Frazer, Sir James G.: Folklore of the Old Testament (Macmillan, 1918).

Fulleborn, Dr F. : Das deutsche Njassa- und Ruwumagebiet, Land und Leute
(Reimer, Berlin, 1906).

Gutmann, Rev. Dr Bruno : Dichten und Den ken der Dschagganeger (Verlag
der evangelisch-lutherischen Mission, Leipzig, 1909).

- Volksbuch der Wadschagga (Verlag der evangelisch-lutherischen

Mission, Leipzig, 1914).

Harris, J. C.: Uncle Remus; or, Mr Fox, Mr Rabbit , and Mr Terrapin
(Routledge, n.d.).

- Nights with Uncle Remus (Routledge, n.d.).

He Wat, Dr M. L.: Bantu Folklore {Medical and General) (T. Maskew
Miller, Capetown, n.d.).

Hobley, C. W. : The Akamba (Cambridge University Press, 1910).

- Bantu Beliefs and Magic (Witherby, 1922).

Hoffmann, Rev. C.: In Zeitschriftfur Eingeborenensprachen, vols. vi and xix
(Hamburg, 1915-16 and 1930-31).

IP as der afrikanische Grossvater seinen Enkeln erzahlt (Berliner Mis-
sionsgesellschaft, 1912).

Hollis, A. C.: The Masai: their Language and Folklore (Oxford University
Press, 1905).

The Nandi: their Language and Folklore (Oxford University Press,

x 9°9)-

Hurel, R. P.: La Pot sic chez les primitifs; ou, conies, fables, r/cits et
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Ingrams, W. H.: Zanzibar, its History and its People (Witherby,

*93 0 -

Jacottet, Emile : £tudes sur les langues du Haul Zumleze : ii Partie,

“Textes Soubiya”; iii Partie, “Testes Louyi” (Leroux, Paris, 1899
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jacottet, £mile : The Treasury of Ba-Suto Lore , vol. i (no more published)
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- Contes popu/aires des Bassoutos (Leroux, Paris, 1895).

Johanssen, E.: Ruanda: Kleine Anfange—grosse Aufgaben der Evange/ischen
Mission im Zwischenseengebiet Deutsch-Ostafrikas (Bethel Mission,
Bielefeld, 1915).

Johnson, Frederick : “ Notes on Kimakonde,” in Bulletin of the School of
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the Witwatersrand Press, 1931).

Junod, Henri A. : Chants et contes des Baronga (Bridel, Lausanne, 1897).

- The Life of a South African Tribe (2 vols.; 2nd cd., Macmillan, 1927).

Kibaraka: Swahili Stories (Universities Mission Press, Zanzibar, 1896).

Kidd, Dudley: Savage Childhood (Black, 1906).

- The Essential Kafir (Black, 1904).

Klamroth, Rev. M.: In Zeitschrift fur Kolonialsprachen (Berlin and Ham¬
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Lindblom, Gerhard: Kamba Tales of Animals (HefFer, 1928).

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MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

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Berlin, 1896).

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Taylor, W. E.: Giryama Vnabulary and Collections (S.P.C.K., 1910).

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326

INDEX

Abantu (Bantu), 15
Abarea, Galla headman, 45
Abdallah bin Hemedi, 130 ft., 133
Aborigines, traditions concerning, 176
Abu NuwAs, 317-318
iEsop, 25

Aimu of the Kamba, 177-178
Akamba— see Kamba
Albinos, 174

Algonkin Indians, myths of, 155, 171
Amandebele tribe, 176 ft., 222
A maxi mu—see Ogres
Amazon, Indians of the, stories of, 252,
307

Ambundu— see Mbundu
American Negroes, 21 252 267

Amulets, 251, 303

Anansi, the West African spider, 252 n.,
274

Ancestor, first, deification of, 21,43, 155
Ancestral spirits— see Ghosts
Angola, 28, 34, 39, 91, 202, 252 ;
stories from, 35, 37, 103, 120, 126,
273, 320. See also Fenda Madia,
Kalunga, Kitamba, Ngunza, Sudika-
Mbambi

Angoni— see Nguni
Animals, taking human form, 24, 192,
x 95“ x 97 5 g* vcn human attributes,
25, 69, 124 n. ; stories of, 25, 252
seq. ; ghosts incarnate in, 83, 87,
231 ; wizards turn into, 83 5 as

culture-heroes, 120 ; as embodiments
of lightning, 226, 227
Ankole, 34

Ant, in Ronga tale, 63
Ant-eater ( loma ), in Durum a story, 266
Ant-hill, Huveane hides lambs in, 157 ;
as abode of rainbow, 231 5 a hare
takes refuge in, 258

Antelopes, 67, 240, 262, 275. See also
Chevrotain, Duiker, Eland, Gazelle,
Hartebeest

Ants, in Bena Kanioka story of tortoise,
284

Anyanja— see Nyanja
Ashanti, 21, 40 ; drum-signalling in,
265 n.

Assam, story from, 308
Asu tribe, 40, 76, 77
Atonga —see Tonga

Ba- (plural personal prefix). Names of
tribes are given under the initial letter
following this prefix ( e.g., Basuto
will be found under Suto)

Babinga, 113

Baboons, 24, 277 ; ghosts appearing as,
85 ; familiars of witches, 251
Bahati —see Kwege

Bahima (Batusi), pastoral aristocracy
in Ruanda, Buganda, and Bunyoro,
33 > 4 S* S 3 * “3

Bahutu, cultivators in Ruanda, 45, 53,
112

Bakimba, secret society in Mayombe,
234

Balungwana, 23, 228
Bangwe, Mount, Shire Highlands, Ny-
asaland, 231

Bantu languages, 15, 17-18, 30, 112
Bantu-speaking peoples, 16, 20, 28, 33,
53

Batwa, serfs in Ruanda, 45 ; Pygmies,
176

Bavea, 241, 242
Bechuana, 17, 22, 29
Beehive, 71
Bees, 104, 181, 188

Bell, rung by a being descended from
heaven, 79 ; given by Maweza to
tortoise, 284

Bena Kanioka tribe, 281, 284
Benga tribe, 247, 273, 277, 282 ft.

Binego, 114-115

Birds, reveal murder, 24, 102, 105-106 5
the dead return as, 87,98, 110 $ res¬
cue children, 199 ; sent as messen¬
gers, 303-304
Birth, abnormal, 127, 2x8
Bittremieux, P., quoted, 234, 250
Bleek, Miss D. F., 17, 155
Bleck, W. H. I., quoted, 15, 33
"Blind Man and the Hunchback,
The,** 308 seq.

Bokenyane, story of, 218-219

327

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Bombe, his adventure with the ngojama,
204

Bondei tribe, 275

Brer Rabbit, 25,155, 252 seq., 274, 292,

293

Brer Tarrypin, 269, 273-274
Bryant, Father, quoted, 28, 29, 30
Buffalo, 116, 282, 284
Buge, son of Mbega, 139-140
Bull, Mr, 292-293
Bullfrog, 300

Bumba, the creator, 226-227
Bumbiri, 136, 139, 140
Bushmen, the, 15, 17, 22, 26, 28, 155,
176, 203
Bushongo, 226
Buziba, 225
Buzzard, 273

Bwine-Mukuni (Lcnje) tribe, no, 302 n.

Callaway, Bishop, quoted, 31, 50,91,
155, 160, 172, 180, 222, 230, 288-
289

Cameroons Mountain, 200
Cannibals, 24, 120, 172-173, 200. See
oho Ogres

Casalis, E., quoted, 84
Cattle, origin of, 22 ; mentioned in
tales, 46, 54, 60, 75, 101, 104, 208,
292; slaughtered at command of
prophet, 236 5 sacrificed to water
spirits, 290

Chaga tribe, 24, 53, 175, 179 • legends
and tales of, 51, 70 seq., 93, 176,
J 9°» 233, 303-304

Chameleon, 21 n. 2, 31-32, 33, 253, 304
Chamfumu, Mbega’s dog, 133, 134
Chaminuka the Seer, 240 seq.

Changala, story of, 219
Charmed life, 154, 243
Charms —see under Magic
Chevrotain, 26, 283
Chibisa, 154, 243

Chiefs, 29, 42, 63, 78, 83, no, 134, 136
seq. y 209, 212, 240, 299, 308
Chikumbu, Yao chief, 154, 243
Chilube, one-legged goblin of the
Basubiya, 200-202
Chirope , 99

Chiruwi, one-legged goblin, 198
Chitsimbakazi sprite, 188, 203
328

Chiuta, High God in Nyasaland, 21 ft.
Chirwanda, demon, 192
Choric stories, 177, 192
Chungu, his prayer, 42
Clan tradition of Zulus, 28-29
Cloud folk, 77

Colenso, Bishop, ico 112, 248 n.
Colenso, Miss H. E., 29, 112
Colocasia , 71 n., 156
Congo, people of, 21 n. f 28, 192, 227,
252, 320

4 Cooking each other,* game of, 163,
165

Corisco Bay, 247 n. f 273, 280
Corpse, resuscitated, 247, 250
Creator leaves the earth, 21, 41, 50
Cripps, Rev. A. S., 242
Crocodile, 96, 254, 269 n.

Culture-heroes, 119-120
44 Cutta Cord-La,** story of, 267

Da Gama, Vasco, 28
Dale, A. M., quoted, 40, 232, 235,
250, 295

Dannholz, J. J., quoted, 77
De Clercq, P., quoted, 283, 284
Dead, influence of, 18-19, 81 i abode
of, 19 j come back as birds, 87, 98,
no ; as snakes, 20, 87, 92, 97, 2315
revive, 97

Death, personified, 23, 33 (see aho
Kalunga-ngombe, Walumbe); origin
of, 31 seq.

Delagoa Bay, 22, 31
"Demane and Demazana," story of,
180, 219

Demon bridegroom, theme of, 192
Demons, 39, 129, 192 n. 7 204
Dennett, R. E., quoted, 227, 233
Dewar, E., quoted, 106, 219, 305
Diffusionist theory, 307
Digo tribe, 143
Dinuzulu, 29
Ditaolane, 208-209
Divination, 19, 133, 208, 235
Doctors, 35, 37, 82, 134, 235 seq.

Doe tribe, 243

Dogs, 103, 133, 134, 135, 227, 298 ;

feared by Chilube, 202
Doke, C. M., quoted, 177, 192, 221,
236, 238, 250, 282, 293, 299

INDEX

Dorcatherium—see Chevrotain
Dorobo, 50, 233
Dreams, 19, 81, 115, 243
Drum, child in, 18 x 5 magic, 194
Drum-signalling in Ashanti, 265 n.
Drums, of ghosts, 85, 244 ; royal, in
Usambara, 141

Duala tribe, 16, 174, 252, 275
Duiker, 67, 254, 275
Duruma tribe, 186, 203

Egg, of hyena, 127 ; of lightning-bird,
223-224

Eggs, not eaten by Bantu, 264 n.

Eimu, ogre of Kamba tribe, 174, 178
Eland, 282

Elephant, 26, 213, 254, 255, 258, 276,
295, 309

Ellenbcrger, D. F., quoted, 243
Engai, High God of Masai, Kikuyu,
and Kamba, 41
Esisi (albino), 174
Ewe tribe, 232, 233

“ False Bride” stories, 91, 321
Familiars of wizards, 247 seq.

Fenda Madia, story of, 91, 202, 321
Fire, fetched from heaven by spider, 69 $
not known to Moon-folk, 73, 76 5
kindled by lightning, 227 ; rainbow
thought to be, 23 x
Fish, giant, 124

Fishermen on Lake Victoria, 232
Fraser, Rev. Donald, quoted, 225, 237
Frazer, Sir J. G., quoted, 179
Frog, sent as messenger to heaven, 67 ;
rescues girls from ogre in Ronga
story, 221 ; in Lamba story, 300 5
carves wife out of tree, 302
Frogs eaten by witches, 185

Galla, 26,45, 147 seq., 204, 253
Ganda people, 23, 33, 119, 232
Gazelle, 274, 281, 283
Gesta Romanorum, 311, 313, 319
Ghosts, 18 seq., 81 seq., 244; not
immortal, 81-82 ; haunting vicinity
of grave, 83 ; country of, 83, 84, 94,

97 5 sometimes mischievous, 83, 86 $
return of, as snakes or lizards, 83, 92,

231 n.; in groves, 85 5 at trees, 86 $
return of, as birds, 98, 102
Giant, 217-218
Giraffe, 259

Giryama, 21 n., 96, 203, 270
Glutton, story of, 45
Gnomes, 1x7, 192, 202 seq.

Goats, 22, 73, 75, 157, 208, 215
Goblins, 192 seq., 236, 238
God, 18, 20, 40 seq. See also Chiuta,
Engai, Huveane, Huwe, Imana,
Iruwa, Katonda, Kyala, Leza,
Maweza,Mulungu,Nyambe, Nzambi
Mpungu
Gogo tribe, 202

Gondiva lizard in Nyasaland, 296 n.
Gourd— see Pumpkin
* Grateful beasts * motif, 313
Grave, ghosts haunting, 83 5 9nake seen
coming from, 92, 231 n.

Grimm brothers, stories of, 65, 221,
307, 321

Groves, haunted, 85
Guinea-fowl, 263-265
Gulu (Heaven), 23

Gutmann, Dr Bruno, quoted, 42, 51,
78 > 93 > l 75 > i 9 °> 2 33 > 3°4

Haddon,A. C., quoted, 119

Hal Badiri, book of incantations, 251

Half-men, 78, 82, 175, 192 it., 198 seq.,

2 36

Half-woman, 123
Hamisi wa Kayi, 153
Hare, 25, 160, 165, 168, 252 seq., 273,
275, 281, 291, 317
Hartebeest, 10 x
Haunting demons, 204
Heaven and Heaven country, 23, 50
seq. 5 dwellers in, 64, 76 seq.;
ascents to, 66 seq. See also Gulu,
Tilo

Heaven-doctors, 224, 229
Heaven-herds, 229
Heaven-tree, 70
Herbalists, 239

Hereros, 16, 22, 29, 34, 54 n., 204
Heroes, 112 seq. See also Liongo Fumo,
Mbega

Hewat, M. L., quoted, 223
High God— see God

329

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Hili, 289

Hippopotamus, 173, 268-269
Hlakanyana, 26, 120,160 seq ., 252, 262,
274

Hobley, C. W., quoted, 21, 178, 275 ft.
Hodi, 156

Hoffmann, Rev. C., quoted, 103, 156,
160

' Holle * stories, 62, 93, 96, 202
*' Homme-au-Grand-Coutelas, L*,** 221,
286, 300

Honey, 104, 180, 200, 204, 256
Hopkins, Matthew, witch-finder, 235
Horn bill, 292

Horned animals and hyena, 291 seq.
Hottentots, 15, 17, 26, 28, 33, 253
Hunchback, 308 seq.

Huveane, 23,41, 129, 155 seq., 210, 211
Huwe (Uwe), a god of the Bushmen,
155

Hyena, 25, 26, 115, 179, 190, 195
202, 251, 254, 291 5 in story of
Kachirambe, 127-129 ; in stories of
hare, 256, 262 seq.

Ichitumbu , goblin, 219
Iguana, the monitor lizard, 164
Ila tribe, 40, 50, 200, 232, 235, 250,
257 n., 268, 291, 295
Ilala, 239

Imana, High God in Ruanda, 43 seq.
Imandwa, spirits, in Ruanda, 113, 115-
117

Imbulu, fabulous creature in Zulu story,
91

Impundulu, tbe lightning-bird, 223
Insittgizi, bird used in rain-rites, 230
Iramba tribe, 20, 183, 217
Irimu , an ogre or goblin, 24, 175, 191
Iruwa, High God of Chaga tribe, 42,

5 l

Isiququmadevu, 211-213
Isitshakamana, a water-sprite, 289
lsrvolwolo , the lightning-bird of the
Amandebele, 222

Jackal, 26, 160, 168, 170, 253, 259 n.
Jacottet, £mile, quoted, 32, 100, 176,
200, an, 253, 285
Jatakas, Buddhist stories, 311
••John of Chyanorth,” 320

33 °

Johnson, F., tales supplied by, 91, 2x7;

quoted, 183, 304
Johnston, Sir H. H., 283
Jonah, 220

Jumbi, bogy of Jamaica Negroes, 21 it.
Junod, Rev. H. A., quoted, 23, 31,
175, 218, 221, 225, 228, 235, 305,
318, 320, 321

Kabuluku antelope, 283
Kabundungulu, twin brother of Sudika-
Mbambi, 121

Kachari story from Assam, 308
Kachirambe, 23, 127 seq., 158
Kalahari, 17
Kalikalanje, 126, 129
Kalulu, name of hare in Nyanja, etc.,
252 n., 253

Kalunga, High God of Kwanyama and
Ndonga, 21 n., 34 5 name for Death
in Mbundu, 34 seq.

Kalunga-ngombe, 34
Kamba tribe in Kenya, prayer of, to
High God, 41 5 accused of canni¬
balism, 120 5 belief as to ghosts and
ogres, 177, 178 ; tales of, 259 ft.,
275

Kammapa, 208

Kantanga, a wonder-child, 126

Kaoko veld, 22

Kaonde tribe, 249

Kapirimtiya, 22

Karanga tribe, 28

Kashaija Karyang’ombe, 112

Kaswenene, a small frog, 300 ft.

Katonda, the creator, in Uganda, 21 ft.,
M9

Katubi, infant in Lenje story, 107 seq.

Kayura, storm-god in Buziba, 226

Kenge, Varanus lizard, 297 seq.

Khodumodumo, 208

Khudjana —see Huveane

Khutu, 120

Kiali, story of, 217 seq.

“Kibaraka," story, 179, 311, 3i3> 3 r 5
seq., 319

Kibi, Ziba hero, 120
Kibwebanduka, hero, 120
Kidd, Dudley, 181, 222, 224, 228
Kiganga, medium of Kolelo, 246
Kigiri, tomb of Shambala chiefs, 142 ft.

INDEX

KikocL, 148

Kikuyu tribe, 174, 175, 232
Kilembe , ‘life-tree,* 121
Kilimanjaro, 24, 51, 70, 85, 176
Kilindi, 130, 134-1 35
Kimbiji, giant fish, 124
Kimweri, 130, 140, 144
Kings, Zulu, 29
Kintu of Uganda, 34, 120
Kinyamkela, ghost, 82, 86
Kinyasi (Shebuge), 141, 143
Kinyoka, huge serpent, 124
Kipalendes, 121 seq.

Kipini, 145, 153, 322
Kitamba, story of, 35-36
Kitara , chief's residence, 141
Kitunusi, sprite, 203, 289
Kituta spirit, 38-39
Kivava, Shebuge*s friend, 143-144
Kivu, Lake, 117
Kodoile , demon, 205
Koko, guardian of the trees, 281, 285
Kolelo, divinity of Wazaramo, 97, 244
seq.

Kolelo, in Nguu, cave at, 98, 243-245

Konde —see Ngonde

Krapf, J. L., 130

Kubandwa mysteries, 117

Kuluwe tribe, 84, 237

KuzJmu , country of the dead, 20, 84

Kwege, story of, 87 seq.

Kyala, High God of Ngonde, 42

La la tribe, 253

Lamba tribe, 177, 226, 236, 238, 249,
2 53> 2 75> 291, 2 99

Lavadeiro, Antonio, his stories of the
lightning, 227, 228, 238
Lenje, 238,303. See also Bwine-Mukuni
Leonard, A. G., quoted, 274-275
Leopard, 24, 96, 165-167, 175, 273,
286

Levivi, Huveane*s father, 23, 156
Leza, High God of Ua, 21, 39, 40, 50-
2 3 2

Lightning, 23, 222 seq. $ conjured by
‘ doctors,* 229

Lightning-bird, 222 seq .; its nest
found, 223 5 its eggs, 223-224;
strikes a girl, 225
Lightning-dog, 227

Limpopo river, 28

Lindblom, Gerhard, quoted, 178, 275 n.
Lion, 26, 96, 129 ; killed by Mbega,
138 ; takes human form, 179 ; mar¬
ries a girl in Lamba tale, 192 seq. \
man-eating ( ngojama ), 204 ; tied up
by Hare, 256 ; his cubs nursed by
Hare, 259 ; Hare decides a case against,
269-270 ; forgets name of tree, 282 5
chief of animals, 285 ; in story of
Wart-hog, 293-295

Liongo Fumo, 145 seq. ; grave of, at
Kipini, 145, 154 5 marriage of, 148 j
plot to kill him foiled, 148-149 ;
escape of, from prison, 1505 killed
by his son, 152

Lions, dead chiefs reincarnated in, 83

* Little people,’ 176, 203

Lobengula, 240

Louren^o Marques, 228, 321

Luangu, 227, 233

Luba tribe, story from, 283-284 *

Lujenda valley, 19 n.

Lukala, river-spirit in Angola, 126
Luqman, 25

Luyi tribe, their legend of death, 32-
33 ; belief of, about the rainbow, 231;
their story of Hare and his wife, 303

Macdonald, Duff, quoted, 21 >*.,63 n. y
99, 181 231, 269 n.

Mackenzie, Rev. D. R., quoted, 21, 42
Madimo , cannibals (Sesuto), 174
Magembe, grandson of Mbega, 140-
141

Magic, Mbega skilled in, 134,135, 137 ;
Mboza*s, 143 ; Huveane accused of,
158 ; boat, 197; for averting hail
and lightning, 229; for bringingrain,
230 ; black, 246 seq. y 251 ; in story
of “Kibaraka,” 316; mirror, etc.,
3 2 °, 3 21

Mahdeo and the Jackal, 307
“ Majimaji Rebellion,” 97, 245
Makishi— see Ogres
Makonde tribe, folk-tale of, 91 seq.
Makua tribe, 252
Malandela, Zulu king, 28-29
Manabozho, 171
Mandara, chief of Moshi, 80
Mankind, origin of, 22 seq. y 30-31

331

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

“ March Hare,” 253
Marwe, story of, 93 seq.

Masai, the, 21, 53, 77, 81, 306 n.
Mashah, 145-146
Mashambwa, story of, 200
Mashona and Mashonaland, 15, 223
Masiio and Masilonyane, story of, 24,
100 seq.

Matebele —see Amandebele
Matope, Yao chief, 83
Maweza, High God of Bena Kanioka,
281, 284

Mayombe, 234, 250
Mbasi, evil spirit, 42
Mbega, 130 seq.

' Mbizo,* writer in Nada, 223
Mbodze, story of, 186 seq.

Mboza, Wakilindi princess, 140 seq.
Mbundu tribe of Angola, 34, 174, 252;
legends and tales of, 35 seq., 66, 103,
120, 273, 321

Mediums of gods or spirits, 115, 119,
245-246

Melland, F. H., quoted, 84, 237, 249
Mganga, witch-doctor or herbalist, 235,
246, 251

Mlamlali, medium of Kolelo, 245
Mlilua, story of, 217, 304
Modimo, High God of Basuto, 41, 160
Mohlomi, chief and doctor, 242
Mombasa, 145, 251
Monitor lizard (Varans), 164 ft., 278
seq., 296 seq.

Moon, sends Hare with message in
Hottentot story, 33, 253 ; daughter
of, marries Kimanaweze’s son, 66
seq. j kraal of, reached by Murile, 73 $
thought of as a man by most Bantu,

76$ Wasu conception of, 76 n.
Moshesh, Paramount Chief of the
Basuto, 173, 243

Mosima, abode of the dead, according
to the Basuto, 84

Mouse-deer, corresponds to Hare in
Malay stories, 252
Mozambique, 229, 318
Mpande, Zulu king, 29
Mpande, shell-disk, 302, 310
Mpobe, references to his story, 20, 34,

39 * 237

Mpongwe tribe, 275 n.

332

Muhavura volcano, 117-118
Mukasa (Mugasha), lake-god, 119, 202,
226

Mulenga, prophet in Northern Rho¬
desia, 239

Mulungu, High God of the Yaos, 21,
39, 50, 66

Mungoose, 265 n., 282
Murder revealed and avenged, 20, 99
seq., 303

Murile, 70 seq., 156, 303
Musoke, the rainbow in Uganda, 232
Mutipi, Ronga giant-killer, 126
Mwakatsoo, Pokomo pet-name for the
Hare, 270

Mwenembago, Zaramo spirit, 19, 82

Namwanga tribe, 106, 219, 305
Namzimu, demon, 129
Nasilele, Nyambe’s wife, 32-33
Nassau, R. H., quoted, 215, 246, 273
Nature myths, 125, 207
Ndonga tribe, 34, 174
Ng'anzi (monitor lizard), 278
Ngeketo, divinity of Ngonde, 42-43
Ngojama—see Lion
Ngoloko , 204
Ngonde, 42, 96, 275
Ngumbangumba, Ronga giant, 218
Nguni (Angoni), 17, 29, 30, 97
Ngunza, story of, 37-39
Nguru (Nguu), country, 130, 243
Nkonzo, Ryang*ombe*s handmaid, 116
Nomsimekwana, chief in Natal, 173
Nongqauze, Xosa prophetess, 236
Nsenga tribe, 291

Nunda, “eater of people,” 218, 220
Nyambe, High God of Luyi, 32, 40
Nyanja tribe, and language, 16, 17, 21
ft., 22, 27, 50 n., 99, 126, 154, 181 n.,
195,252 n., 262, 278,296 n., 303,307,
308

Nyasaland, 17, 85, 198, 202, 203, 286,

296, 302

Nyengebule, story of, 24, 104 seq.
Nyiragongo, Ryang’ombc’s adversary,
1175 volcano called after him, 118
Nzambi Mpungu, High God of Congo
people, 69 n., 228, 238
Nzazi (Nsasi), Congo name for light¬
ning, 227

INDEX

Octopus, 287

Ogres, 24, 113, 162, 167, 172 seq., 21S,
299 ; known by long hair, 174 ; with
two or more heads, 175 $ one-legged,
175, 178 ; escape from, 179 seq.
Omumborombonga tree, 22, 31
Oracles; in Kolelo’s cave, 246
Orphan, story of the, 91 seq.

Ox, favourite, warns owner of danger,
211. See also Murile
Ozi river, 145

Pare (Tanganyika Territory), 40, 77
Parents, story of children and, 299
Pate, Swahili kingdom, 145, 153
Pedi tribe, 41, 155, 240, 285
Pemba, 130, 133, 134, 246
Persians, 145, 311 ; stories of, com¬
pared, 315, 316, 319
Pigeons, 302, 303
Podile, prophet of the Bapedi, 240
Pokomo tribe, 146,170,203,204,269 n.,
304 n.

Poltergeist , 86, 87, 246
Porcupine, burrow of, leading to the
ghosts’ village, 84 ; in Kiniramba
story, 217

44 Porridge for the goat,” story of, 298
Portugal and Portuguese, 28, 69, 145,
318, 320-321

Posselt, F., quoted, 240, 269 n., 308
Prayer to High God, 21, 42, 43-44
Precocious development, of Ryang*-
ombe, 113 ; of Kachirambe, 127}
of Hlakanyana, 160-161 5 of Ditao-
lane, 208

Prophets, 236. See also Chaminuka,
Mohlomi, Mulenga, Podile, Umhla-
kaza

Pumpkin, grows -up from ogre’s re¬
mains, 182 ; swallows village in
Usambara, 215-216 ; talking, 217
Pygmies, 17, 176, 177
Python, 283

Queen of Heaven, 232

Race, story of, 273, 275 seq.

Rain, 230-231

Rainbow, 231 seq .; colours of, 233-
*34

Rattray, R. S., quoted, 127, 308
Rebmann, J., 79 n.

44 Red Kafirs,” 16 n.

Red Riding-hood, 179, 221

Reed, associated with human origins,

Rehse, H., quoted, 113
Reincarnation, 83, 231
Remus, Uncle, 25, 155,198,252,257*.,
267, 292, 307
Rhinoceros, 255

Rhodesia, Northern, 50, 224, 239, 249
Rhodesia, Southern, 15, 176 n. See also
Mashona and Mashonaland
Rimu —see Ogres
River-names, 28
River-spirits, 126, 289-290
Rivimbi, Huveane’s father, 23, 156
44 Robber-bridegroom "motif, iqj, 179,
190, 192, 195

Ronga tribe, 31, 180 it., 184, 199, 225,
228, 281 ; tales of, 62, 126, 129, 175,
286, 300

44 Route du Ciel,” story, 62, 96
Ruanda, 43, 53, 118, 178 ; legends and
tales of, 44 seq., 53 seq., x 13 seq.
Ryang’ombe, 49, 112 seq., 160

Salt, highly valued, 278
Sawoye, Marwe’s husband in Chaga
tale, 95

Schumann, C., quoted, 276
Sechobochobo, one-armed sprite, 200
Sekukuni, 155 n.

Selous, F. C., 240, 242
Senzangakona, Zulu king, 29, 62
Serpent, 44-45 ; the dead come back
in form of, 20, 97 ; coming out of
grave, 92, 231 ; a giant, 124, 204 ;
rainbow in form of, 231, 233-234
Shaka, 145 seq.

Shambala tribe, 130, 183, 217 if.

Shebuge, 140
Shehe Jundani, 251
Shrew, 305-306

Sikulokobuzuka, 200. See also Chilube
Sikulumi, story of, 184
Sky, joins earth at horizon, 20, 61 ;
abode of High God, 21, 39, 41 ;
attempts to reach, 21,40-41, 61 seq.,

66 seq.

333

MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE BANTU

Slaves, secret societies of, 247 ; exported
to America, 252

Smith, E. W., quoted, 40,232,235,250,
295

Snakes —see Serpent
Spider, 61, 66, 68, 252 274

Spirit-possession, 238
Spirits’ hills, 85-86
Stanley, H. M., 138 ft.

Steere, Edward, quoted, 108 ft., 145,
153* *77 *9°* 220, 311, 316 n.

Subiya tribe, 200, 281
Sudika-Mbambi, hero of Mbundu, 120
seq.

Sumbwa tribe, 252

Sun, personified by Chaga tribe, 51 5
and Moon, daughter of, 67 seq,
Sungura —see Hare

Suto, 16, 22, 26, 29, 173, 175, 184, 242,
253, 281

Swahili, 20 ft., 130 ft., 146, 180, 218,
220, 251, 265 288, 307, 311 seq.

Swallowing Monster, the, 27, 101, 124,
186, 206 seq.

Tabu, 88, 175, 226, 229, 244, 264 n.
Tana river, 203, 269 ft.

Tangalimlibo, 97 n., 289
Tar-baby story, 267
Taylor, W. E., quoted, 203, 247 n.,
270

Teetotum, game with, 260
Temne tribe in West Africa, 215
Termites, 279, 306 n.

Theal, G. McC., quoted, 97 n., 170,
180, 186, 206, 215, 304
Thonga people (Ronga, Bila, and
several other tribes), 22, 23, 57, 61,

*56

•'Three pieces of advioe," story, 318
seq.

Thunder, 50, 57, 125, 222, 226 $ story
of girl married by, 57
Thunderbolt, 229
Tikoloshe (Hili), 289
Tilo (Heaven), 23
Tonga tribe (of Lake Nyasa), 83
Torday, E., quoted, 226-227
Torrend, Father, quoted, 106, in, 321
Tortoise, 26, 170, 221, 255, 257, 273
seq., 309

334

Tortoises demand satisfaction for ill-
treatment of Mrule, 79
Trance, 97, 237-238
Transvaal, the, 41, 84, 103, 155, 199,
280, 285 ft.

Tree, grows from bones of dead ogre,
183, 2155 the chiefs, story of, 281
seq.

Trichard, Louis, 240
Tselane, story of, 179 seq., 215
Tsetse Bumba, Bushongo name for
lightning, 226
Tswa tribe, 204
Tug-of-war story, 268, 273
Tumbuka tribe, 225, 286, 296
Turi, invites Mbega to become chief of
Vuga, 136
Turtle, 273
Twins, 23, 121, 212 n.

Tylor, E. B., quoted, 207, 214, 220

Ucawjana, another name for Hlaka-
nyana, 155
Ugab, river, 22

Uganda (Buganda), 20, 21 n., 33-34*
39, 118, 119, 232, 245 n.

Umhlakaza, prophet of the Xosas, 236
Unanana-bosele, story of, 213
Uncama, visits country of the dead, 20
Unkulunkulu, High God of Zulus,
21 n., 31-32

Untombinde, Zulu story of, 211 seq.
Usambara, 130, 136, 216
JJxamu , lizard, 164 ft., 296
Uzaramo, 87. See also Zaramo tribe

Virgil and snake story, 231 ft.

Volcanoes, 117-118
Vuga, 136, 217

IVa-, prefix to names of tribes. See
under Ba -

Wachanjoi—see Witches and witch¬
craft

Walumbe, 33
Wanga, sorcerers, 247
Wart-hog, 293-294
Water-snake, 221, 300
Water-sprites, 289
Weasel, 26, 155, 160

INDEX

Well, animals and, story of, 255 seq.

Were-leopard, 179

Weston, Bishop, 246

Weti, in Pemba, 246

Witch-doctor, 235

Witch-guilds, 246-247

Witches and witchcraft, 235, 246 seq.

Wonder-children, 112 ,126 seq., 160-161

Woods, haunted, 85, 244

Wundt, W., quoted, 171, 207

Xosa tribe, 15, 29, 30, 165, 169, 180,
184, 186, 289

Yao tribe, 19,20, 21, 50, 83, 99, 180
269 n .

Zambezi, river, 23, 32, 97, 106, 292 n .
Zanzibar, 145, 153, 308 n .

Zaramo tribe, 19, 82, 87 seq., 97, 120,
244

Zebra, 159, 287
Ziba tribe, 112, 113, 120
Zigula tribe, 143
Zinrwi, ogre, 180, 186, 215
Zulus, 16, 22, 30, 180, 226, 229, 287,
289

* s

/ .

. *•

T £6

Central Archaeological Library,

NEW DELHI.

Call No 398.30968A’er - 1187.

Author— Werner, A.

Title— Myths and legends of the
Bantu.

Bor row#i No.

Date of luue

‘A book that is shut u

Date of Return

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GOVT. OF INDIA ^

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